Draco Malfoy & the Half-Blood Prince
by malfoytheseeker
Summary: Draco has been recruited for Voldemort's elite circle, the Death Eaters. Not only that, but the Dark Lord has a special task for him: kill the only wizard who stands a chance against Voldemort. Will Draco survive his sixth year at Hogwarts, when both sides expect him to help them win? Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created all of Harry Potter and his world.
1. 1: The Initiation

Draco Malfoy didn't even have a minute to rest when he got home. All the Death Eaters-those who hadn't been captured in the first official battle of the Second Wizarding War-were waiting for him in the drawing room. He just sent his trunk to his room and went into the room.

Voldemort was waiting in the center of the room. The remaining Death Eaters and Narcissa Malfoy were surrounding the Dark Lord and waited for Draco to approach his master.

"Come, Draco," Voldemort said. "I do not know if you have heard, but your father has gone missing."

Draco nodded. "I read it in the paper." How could he have missed it? The headline was huge and bold: _LUCIUS MALFOY MISSING AFTER BEING REPORTED PARTICIPANT IN BATTLE._

There was no doubt in Draco's mind that his father had fled to their house in France after Draco had released him from the Imperius Potion's effects. This was probably smart since Lucius's failure (which had been caused by Draco) to collect the prophecy from Potter would anger Voldemort to no end. However, Draco would soon realize that his father's actions had consequences.

"Since your father has not only demonstrated his incompetency to complete such a simple task," Voldemort started, "but has also attempted to escape his punishment, you will have to step up in his place. Once you have been initiated, your task will be made clear to you."

Draco nodded again, having nothing to say.

Voldemort lifted his wand and stepped back. "Draco Lucius Malfoy, do you believe yourself to be ready for what awaits you?"

"I do, my Lord," Draco answered exactly how he was supposed to.

"Do you pride yourself in being part of a great change-the removal of all those unworthy of studying magic?"

"I do, my Lord."

"Do you accept the challenges that come with being a part of the best collection of wizards in the Wizarding world?"

"I do, my Lord." It was getting a bit tedious to say this over and over again, and it seemed that Voldemort saw this thought in Draco's head.

"Do you agree to show patience when it means getting things your way?"

"I do, my Lord, but I will show no mercy to any filth in my way."

"Good, it seems that you are ready. Hold out your left arm."

Draco pushed up his robe sleeve and obeyed. Voldemort stuck his wand in the center of Draco's forearm.

"Morsmorde!" he said, drawing an incomplete eight on Draco's arm. Draco's arm suddenly burst with pain where Voldemort first had his wand. Draco gritted his teeth as the pain spread over his arm, following the invisible path Voldemort had drawn with his wand. Once it had reached the end, his entire arm was searing with pain. His arm then set on fire, but to Draco, it felt like he was being pricked by a thousand needles that were mapping out his new tattoo. Soon the flames were gone and a skull was left in its place, in addition to a moving snake.

"Welcome, Draco," Voldemort said, "to the winning side."

All the Death Eaters cheered for Draco. The boy of honor glanced at his mother and saw the worried look on her face. Draco knew that there was nothing he could do but play along, as Dumbledore had advised him.

"Alright, well," Draco said, "I'll be going up to my room."

The inhabitants of the drawing room shrieked with laughter.

"Oh, dear boy," Voldemort said. "You don't think your initiation is over, now, do you?"

Draco frowned. He'd gotten the mark-what more was there?

"We'll be going down to the dungeons now, so our newest member can prove himself worthy." Looking to Draco, Voldemort continued, "That shouldn't be a problem, now, should it?"

"Of course, not, my Lord," said Draco. Down to the dungeons, huh? He should have seen this coming from a mile away.

Voldemort stuck his wand in Draco's back and led him to the dungeons of Malfoy Manor, the very place where Draco had seen his father torture an innocent man the year prior. In one of the cells was no other than Sirius Black. The moment Draco saw him he knew he had to do one of two things: torture him, or kill him. Or if he was "lucky," then both.

He told himself that if he ever got out of this mess alive, he would make sure to create a spell whose incantation was "Crucio" but the wand movement would be ever so slightly different that no one would notice that it only made the recipient of the spell act like he or she was being tortured.

But alas, ear wax. As in, ear wax must be getting to his brain because he didn't have time for distractions.

The dungeons were now crowded with those who wished to see Draco succeed and those who wished to see him fail, more or less for their amusement. Narcissa was a few feet behind Voldemort, who was front and center, and right behind Draco.

"A wizard always remembers his first kill," Voldemort said. "And your first kill should be someone powerful and renown, unlike Sirius Black here."

The others cackled.

"Unfortunately," Voldemort continued, "I wasted my first kill on my bloody Muggle father. I won't expect you to do the same. In fact, I have already planned who your first kill will be, but we'll get to that later. For now, I present to you, a traitor at heart. He could have been great, but luckily he is a pureblood. I can get him to make some pureblood children if I so desire."

Again, there was cackling, but less of it. It was a disgusting thought. Sirius looked at Draco with eyes of a partially lost man-a man who knew that there was hope, but not at the time. Draco walked forward until his face was between bars.

"Go on, Draco," Voldemort said. "He's all yours. Let's see if you can handle casting an Unforgivable curse."

"Forgive me," Draco whispered as softly as he could. "Crucio!"


	2. 2: Attacking & Tasking

Three masked Death Eaters flew through Muggle London on the 24th of June. They went right for the Leaky Cauldron after casting the Dark Mark over the city. Instead of tapping the bricks to enter Diagon Alley, they just smashed through to the other side.

First, they made for Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. One Death Eater zoomed through all the seating areas, knocking over tables and chairs that hadn't already been knocked over by screaming, fleeing customers. Another went straight for the back and pushed over all the storage shelves. Finally, with an Avada Kedavra aimed at the shop owner, the Death Eaters left.

Next, they went to Ollivander's, surprising the old man who owned it. They threatened him with death, among other horrible things much worse, so Ollivander went with them quietly. Fenrir Greyback conjured a bag and slipped it over the wandmaker's head. They and the other Death Eaters Apparated to Malfoy Manor's gate.

After depositing the victim, leaving him with Bellatrix Lestrange who would lead him to the dungeons, the Death Eaters Apparated to Muggle London again, this time, heading for the Millennium Bridge. They spiraled around the long structure until it collapsed, taking with it all the Muggles who hadn't been able to get to safety on time. Once the Death Eaters had succeeded, the proceeded to do the same to the Brockdale Bridge and the Tower Bridge. Again, they left few to no survivors. It was a good day to be a Death Eater.

But not for Draco Malfoy. He was sitting in his room, still unable to believe that he had tortured Sirius. Fortunately, the Dark Lord had stopped Draco after a few seconds with a "Congratulations on your lack of failure." A few days later, here was Draco, wasting his time while the werewolf and his pals ransacked Muggle London.

He felt so useless. There was nothing he could do to slow down his new "master" yet. Speaking of whom, Voldemort would soon inform Draco what his end of the year task was. So Draco sat, waiting.

"You get in here, you poor excuse for a human!"

That was probably Bellatrix, with Ollivander in tow. She must've been angry that she couldn't go on Greyback's destruction spree.

Draco walked down the stairs with extreme caution. He entered the foyer to find his aunt "escorting" a man with a bag over his head.

"Draco," Bellatrix said, "take him to the dungeons and lock him up."

 _No, I won't lock him up. I'll just leave him there,_ Draco thought sarcastically. The Slytherin sixth year grabbed the man by his arm and pulled him along harshly until they were out of his aunt's sight. He took the bag off Ollivander and apologized.

"I wish I could release you," Draco said, surprising the man for the second time that day. "But Voldemort will kill me and my family. Besides, he won't kill you. He has questions for you about his wand."

"Of course," Ollivander said. "I should have known you were different, Mister Malfoy. Combination acacia, elder, and yew, was it? Thirteen inches, reasonably supple, with a tail feather from Fawkes. He's given out three tail feathers in his long life, and one went to your wand. It is quite peculiar that both Harry Potter and You-Know-Who have wands with phoenix feathers that came from Fawkes."

Potter shared tail feathers with him? Now he felt a lot less special about his wand. He didn't tell Ollivander, who no doubt had yet to know, that his wand was Merlin's wand. He couldn't risk Voldemort finding out.

"You can't tell Voldemort about my wand," Draco said. "Don't even think about it or he can see right through your mind."

Ollivander nodded as Draco locked the door to his cell. Draco turned to find Sirius snoring as he leaned against the cell wall. It seemed that he was spending a lot of his life in jail. Draco would have to break him out later in the summer, but not until he had everything planned to the mark. He left the two prisoners and went back to the foyer. He walked into the drawing room, expecting his mother to be there.

He was right, but she wasn't alone.

"Welcome, Draco," Voldemort said, which was odd because it was Draco's house...not his. Draco should have been the one doing the welcoming.

"I trust you know that you have a difficult task ahead of you," the cold voice continued. Draco nodded in acknowledgment.

"I will be brief: you must find a way for the Death Eaters to invade Hogwarts by the end of this coming school year. By that time, you must also have killed your precious headmaster."

Draco's jaw dropped.

"You want me to kill Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes."

He couldn't kill Dumbledore; the man was on the light side, and he knew how to kill Voldemort. "I can't kill Dumbledore! He is too powerful."

Draco respected him. "I fear him almost as much as I fear you, my Lord."

Dumbledore had his back. "Maybe he's not even coming back to Hogwarts after the Battle last week."

"I think," Voldemort said, "that you will find a way if it means that you will suffer severe consequences, should you not."

"Yes, my Lord," Draco said. "I will do everything in my power to bring the old man to his knees." _I'll try everything I can to make sure you die._

"You are now dismissed."

Narcissa and Bellatrix walked down Spinner's End, looking for a certain house.

"He can't be trusted!" Bellatrix whispered to her sister.

"Draco is my son," Narcissa said back. "I have to protect him. He can't kill a man like Dumbledore. It would only end poorly for him."

"He's a smart boy-he'll figure it out."

"We're here."

Narcissa knocked on a brown door at the end of the street. The door was opened and Peter Pettigrew stuck his ugly face through the opening. He opened the door wider and let the two sisters inside. They were shown to the living room and given seats in comfortable armchairs. Narcissa sat down to wait, but Bellatrix preferred to stand.

Severus Snape entered the room as slowly as one could possibly walk. He turned to the rat waiting by the door that led to the kitchen.

"Thank you, Wormtail," Snape said. He brandished his wand and sent Wormtail into the kitchen, locking the door as well.

"I know I ought not speak of this," Narcissa began. "The Dark Lord himself forbade me of-"

"If the Dark Lord has forbidden you," Snape said, "then it is best to respect his wishes. As it is, I happen to know of your...situation. I will do what I can to keep Draco away from-Put it down, Bella. We mustn't touch what isn't ours."

Narcissa turned to find her sister replacing a skull head on the fireplace mantle.

"How do we know?" Bellatrix said. "How do we know that you're going to help us?"

"You will just have to trust me," Snape said monotonously as always.

"Come one, Cissy, he isn't worth our time."

"Please, Severus," Narcissa said. "Will you look after Draco?"

"The Unbreakable Vow," Bellatrix said. She grinned mischievously and manically simultaneously. "Make the Unbreakable Vow." She walked to Snape and circled him. "Unless you're scared that you won't be able to follow through with your promises."

Snape's jaw tightened.

"Coward," Bellatrix said. She made for the door when she was stopped by Snape's voice.

"Take out your wand."

Narcissa stood up and walked to Snape. She grabbed his arm and he did the same. Bellatrix pulled out her wand and stood beside them. She waved her wand and began the vows.

"Do you, Severus Snape," she started, "watch over Draco Malfoy as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes?"

"I will," he answered.

"And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?"

"I will."

"And should it prove necessary...if it seems Draco will fail...will you carry out the deed that the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform?"

After a moment's hesitation, Snape said, "I will."

The bond sealed itself as Bellatrix looked strangely delighted. As the sisters left, Bellatrix reminded Snape of what he already knew.

"Remember," she said, "that should you fail, the consequence is death!" She cackled and closed the door.


	3. 3: Importance of Research

Harry was somewhat mad at Dumbledore for making him miss his date...and for leaving him in the swamp that surrounded the Burrow. Was it too much to ask to be dropped off at the house? He supposed it was. As he walked through the stalks of abnormally tall grass, he wondered why Slughorn had suddenly changed his mind about coming to Hogwarts, or why he had declined in the first place. The school, after all, was the most secure hiding spot for a former Slytherin whom Voldemort was trying to recruit. Dumbledore had said that Slughorn would try to collect him. Was that why Slughorn had agreed? So that he could collect Harry like he had collected his mother?

The moment he walked into the Burrow, he was attacked by Ginny. It took her a while to let go, but she eventually did. Hermione and Ron then hugged Harry, followed by Molly.

"Why are your pants all wet, mate?" Ron asked.

"Dumbledore," was the answer. "He dropped me in the water outside."

"Harry, dear, would you like to go upstairs and change?" Molly asked.

"Sure, Mrs. Weasley."

* * *

Draco was in the Malfoy library, researching ways to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. How he would prevent them from destruction...he would decide that later. He'd been researching for days, trying to figure out how to get inside the school.

He was now reading _A Comprehensive Guide on Dark Objects._ He couldn't figure out why he hadn't picked up the book earlier, but he'd decided to read it because he figured that dark magic was the only way to penetrate a castle like Hogwarts. He found a passage dedicated to Vanishing Cabinets, which looked useful. He learned that these came in pairs. One cabinet would be situated in one place while the other was in another place. If you stepped inside one and cast the right spell, you'd be instantly transported to the other cabinet.

There were only two cabinets that were left. All the others had been destroyed. No more had been made since people didn't need them and because they were difficult to make. Not to mention the fact that they had dark magic. One of the cabinets was in Borgin & Burkes, but the location of the other one was unknown. It had been presumed destroyed, but the writers of the book insisted that it was still out there somewhere.

Draco supposed that he would have to sneak out of the house to go searching for the cabinet since Voldemort would never let Draco out of his sight. But where could the cabinet be? He had to start somewhere.

Since he was in the Dark Objects section of the library, he knew that there should be a book on Vanishing Cabinets nearby. After the hundreds of titles for a possible match, Draco came across _Secrets of Dark Objects: Vanishing Cabinets._ He immediately flipped it open to the table of contents. There were chapters about nearly everything considering this magical object: from how one was made to its history to the locations of all of them, including where the destroyed ones were.

He flipped to the locations section and saw that the cabinets had existed all over the world, but there was once a group of do-good raiders who went to every location and destroyed the dark magic. The cabinet that was currently in Borgin & Burkes was then hidden with another, so the raiders were unable to destroy them. Once the phase was over (apparently, that was at the end of the 1960s), one cabinet was brought to Borgin & Burkes from the hiding place, which was unknown because the wizard who had brought it refused to reveal his source and Veritaserum wasn't appropriate for something so petty. The wizard, Roger Bowtruckle (descendant of the man who discovered Bowtruckles), currently resided in his childhood home, but the passage failed to say where that was.

Draco closed the book. He pointed his wand, placing the tip on the book, and cast a spell that would allow Draco to take the book out of the library (this was something only a Malfoy could do) because he figured that he would need to read all of it, especially to figure out how to transport the cabinet once he had found it. In order to find it, he would have to speak with Roger Bowtruckle. His home was probably called Bowtruckle Manor, or something similar. The famous wizarding scientist, Johnathon Bowtruckle, would have lived there, so the address could either be found in his biography or in the collection of famous wizarding homes.

He decided that his name would be easier to find in the collection, which would also be more detailed. He made his way to the Famous section of the library. Draco browsed for the book and found _Famous Wizards & Where They Lived_.

Perfect. He would have to take this book with him, though, because as the clock on the wall over the library entrance said, it was already eleven o'clock at night. He performed the same spell he'd performed on the other book. It was like checking a book out of a Muggle library, about which Draco had previously studied and then decided that their methods seemed a bit time consuming and over complicated.

"I have so much work to do," he said to himself. "But I don't have to start until much later."

Voldemort had said to find a way to get the Death Eaters inside Hogwarts by the end of the school year. Merlin's heir didn't need to worry about that until later, so why was he working now? He figured he would just set the books aside until summer was over. After all, it might be his last...

But that probably wasn't true.


	4. 4: Capabilities & Incapabilities

Draco and his mother walked into Borgin & Burkes, unaware that they were being followed. The owner of the shop was waiting for them at the front desk. Fenrir Greyback and Bellatrix Lestrange were already there, looking around for anything they might find useful. The two Malfoys joined them at the desk.

"Will that be everyone, then?" Borgin said. When no one said a word, he continued, "Alright, then. This way." He led them all to a tall rectangular box with an open door. This was a Vanishing Cabinet. Draco had told Voldemort about his idea when he'd been asked whether or not he'd found anything. Of course, Draco hadn't looked at his books since he'd taken them out of the library so he had no idea where the other cabinet was. However, he needed to make sure that the one at Borgin & Burkes was still there and actually worked.

So that was what he asked: "Does it work?"

Borgin turned to Draco and said, "Well, of course. There is no reason for it to not work. It hasn't been used in years."

"Will that have any effect, though?" Draco said. "If it hadn't been used in years, who is to say that it still works? Besides, hasn't the other cabinet, forgive the pun, _vanished_?"

Borgin looked stumped. "Um, well," he began, "p-perhaps you would like to test the cabinets once the other has been found?"

Instead of giving the sarcastic reply already formulated in his head, Draco sighed and simply told him that he would very much like that and thanks for his help. He quickly looked behind and above him and saw a silhouette disappear. Draco smirked: Potter was too stupid for his own good.

The Malfoys walked out of the shop, followed by the other Death Eaters who vaporized into the air moments after walking out. After Draco and his mother had bought the rest of his school supplies, they went back to Malfoy Manor.

As they were Malfoys, they could Apparate directly into their home. Narcissa helped her son put everything away before telling him, "I've enlisted help."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"After you were given your task," Narcissa said, taking a deep breath, "I went to Severus's home to tell him to protect you."

"What? Why?" Draco was slightly irritated. "Do you not think I am capable of carrying out my task?"

"No, Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed. "I don't! You are not a killer and I will die before I let you be one."

"No doubt Snape's already gone to Dumbledore," Draco muttered.

"I think it's good if he has," said Narcissa, who was aware of Snape's involvement in the Order of the Phoenix. "Dumbledore should know, and perhaps he can prepare for it."

"Prepare? You mean try to dissuade me from killing him."

"I know my son, whether you know that or not," Narcissa insisted. "You are trying to figure out how to get out of this, aren't you?"

Draco remained silent.

"Furthermore," his mother continued, "you already have ways of knowing where the other cabinet is and how to fix it, should it need fixing."

"You can't possibly have known that."

"I can see the books under your desk, Draco. You will do no good by fooling your mother."

"I didn't think I would need to cloak the books because no one is allowed up here but you."

"Because I am your mother."

"Right."

Narcissa sighed. "You know you do not have to do this alone, do you not?"

"Yes, Mother," Draco said, walking to the window in his room and looking out at the peaceful meadow, "but at the moment I really have no choice. There's nothing for anyone else to do but wait."

"What about communicating with your father?"

Draco turned to his mother. "What are you talking about?"

"Your father sent me a message-you don't need to know how-and he told me not to worry and that he was safe. He has been meeting with Dumbledore to assist him in something that he tells me he cannot speak of. Perhaps the headmaster will tell you in the future. But Lucius is safe, and that's the most important thing."

Draco couldn't stop himself from letting out a huge breath of relief. "That's good," was all he could manage. "That's very good."

Narcissa ruffled his hair as if he were her pet dog and said, "Get some rest."

"Okay."

"That's not a suggestion. Do it." She left the room without another word.

Draco mentally shrugged. Why not rest? What could he possibly do instead?

The following morning, Voldemort was in the house once more. Nowadays, he had taken to living somewhere else (he had yet to mention where), much to Draco's relief.

"I have heard that you have been named Quidditch captain," Voldemort said to Draco the second he entered the breakfast area.

Draco nodded. "Yes, my Lord."

"Well, have you considered that your responsibilities as captain may overshadow your responsibilities as a Death Eater?"

"I would never let that happen. My real duties will always come first." For Draco, his real duties had to do with being Quidditch captain, but of course, Voldemort wouldn't accept that answer. "Besides, giving up my position will look suspicious."

"Very well. I see that I had nothing to worry about."

With that, he vaporized into the air.

"Lovely fellow, isn't he?" Draco said to himself.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Hermione, I saw it with my own eyes!"

Ron entered the cabin to find Hermione rolling her eyes at Harry. "What's going on here?" he asked.

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "Harry is under the impression that Draco Malfoy is now a Death Eater."

Ron sat down beside Hermione and frowned at Harry. "You're barking."

"We all saw him that night," Harry said, "at Borgin & Burkes. It was like some sort of initiation. He's got the Dark Mark."

"Harry," Hermione tried to reason, "first of all, Draco helped us a lot in the Department of Mysteries."

"He got Sirius captured!"

"Didn't you tell us that he saved Sirius from the killing curse?" Ron said.

"Well, yes, but that was probably so he could take Sirius to his house to torture him."

Hermione groaned. "Now you're just being ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous?" Harry repeated. "You're the one with the ginormous crush on him."

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed, her cheeks glowing red. "You can't be serious!"

"No, because Sirius was captured."

"Harry, I'm not joking. Why would you ever think that I like Draco as more than a friend-which he is, Harry, he's helped us a lot and he's been through a lot. We owe him...a lot."

"See? That's exactly it!" Harry said, as if he could rest his case. "You're supporting him."

"I could support Umbridge like this if I wanted to," Hermione said, glaring at him.

"Alright, both of you," Ron said. "Stop acting like children." He paused. "Well, usually Hermione's the one who says that...to me and you, Harry."

Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak. "Don't wait for me once we get to Hogwarts."

"Where are you going, mate?" Ron asked.

"To get some proof. I'll try to get back before we're there."

Harry slipped on the cloak and, with his hand clutching the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder in his pocket, he left the compartment to find the Slytherins.


	5. 5: Bloody Felix

Draco sat alone in his seat, not a friend in sight. Of course he was always alone-in his thoughts, his feelings (yes, he was a human being)-but this time, he was literally alone. Theo and Pansy were at the Order's headquarters, where they were being home schooled. Adrian's parents had decided to home school him as well. Blaise was in Italy and Draco had seen him just as much as he'd seen the rest of his friends over the summer: never.

He didn't care. He didn't need an entourage.

All of a sudden, the entire car went completely dark. People were coughing as the black dust cleared. Draco wondered what that could have been. He then saw the luggage move in the rack above him.

Oh, silly Potter. Always acting like he was so great. Draco reckoned that Potter had learned nothing about spying since that day in Diagon Alley. What an amateur. He was surprised that Voldemort hadn't won yet. No, no he wasn't because Draco had always been there.

Draco would show him what happened to dumb spies. But he would have to wait until they got to Hogwarts and everyone was off the train. No problem for him...perhaps potentially problematic for Potter.

Finally, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station. Draco waited for his fellow students to leave before going to the door and locking it.

"Didn't mummy ever tell you not to eavesdrop, Potter?" he taunted, before petrifying the empty spot beside his trunk. Something fell to the floor with a thud. Draco walked forward carefully and removed the Invisibility Cloak.

"Oh, yeah," Draco said, "she's dead, isn't she? What a wonderful artifact!" He turned his attention to the cloak. "I think I'll be keeping this as a memento for when the Dark Lord defeats you. I bet someone just as lousy as you will be interested in paying loads for this. Oh, before I leave, I wanted to mention that the Dark Lord let me have a go at your godfather earlier this summer."

Potter looked like he wanted to strangle Draco, who wanted Potter to stop relying on him to save his sorry arse every bloody year. So he stomped on Potter's nose, just for the heck of it.

Someone was coming. Draco wrapped the cloak around himself and grabbed his trunk, placing a Disillusionment charm on it. He stood still as Luna Lovegood entered the car and undid Potter's curse.

"Thank you, Luna," Potter said. "I could have been here hours."

"Lucky I was passing by," Luna told him, nonchalantly. "Come on, the gates will lock."

Draco followed them out, noticing that there were no carriages. It would take the Luna and Potter a while to get to Hogwarts on foot. Draco charmed his trunk to become tiny and slipped it into his pocket after undoing the Disillusionment charm on it. Then he silenced his footsteps, charmed the Invisibility Cloak to stick to him, and sprinted to the gates. He saw Professor Flitwick squinting at a piece of parchment in front of the gates. Draco took our his trunk, enlarging it, and took off his cloak, quickly shoving it into the trunk before Flitwick looked up.

"Mr. Malfoy!" the short wizard exclaimed. "Good thing you're here. I was just about to seal the gate."

"A couple more students are coming, Professor," Draco informed him. Flitwick had always liked Draco because the charms professor wasn't McGonagall. That was the only reason the other teachers didn't hate him like McGonagall did. She was prejudiced against Slytherins, but the other heads and teachers weren't.

"Thank you, Draco," the professor said. "On you go."

After a quick inspection with Filch, _very_ quick because Snape had come before Filch could even start and told him, "I can vouch for Mr. Malfoy," Draco ran to the Great Hall and sat down at the Slytherin table just in time to see the sorting end.

* * *

Draco's first class that year was NEWT Potions, to be taught be Horace Slughorn, a tall but portly old wizard who always smiled like a Hufflepuff. The professor had just introduced himself when Potter and Weasley stumbled into the class late like they had for first year Transfigurations. Draco smirked as he bet that one of them wished he was a pocket watch.

"Harry, my boy!" Slughorn exclaimed, uncharacteristically delighted to see the King of Gryffindor. "I was beginning to worry." His eyes moved to the redhead beside Potter. "I see you brought a friend."

"Ron Weasley, sir," the redhead introduced himself. "But I'm awful at Potions so I'll just be going-"

"Nonsense, my dear boy! Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine. Just take out your books and join your classmates."

"Sir," Potter started. "We haven't actually got our books yet."

"That's fine, get whatever you need from the cupboard." Turning back to the class, he said, "I have prepared a few potions here. Would anyone care to identify what is in each cauldron?"

As everyone expected, Hermione's hand shot up, making Draco roll his eyes in good nature.

"Yes," Slughorn nodded to her. "Miss, er-"

"Granger, sir," Hermione told him. She stepped up to the first cauldron and took in the smell. "This first one here is Veritaserum. It makes the drinker tell the truth." She moved to the next one. "This is Polyjuice Potion. It allows the drinker to change his or her appearance into that of someone else. It's terribly tricky to make."

Draco smirked, remembering how the girl had made it for her friends in the second year. His eyes wandered to the back of the room, where Potter and Weasley were fighting over a book. In the end, it looked like Weasley won, and Potter was left with a battered copy that seemed to be falling to pieces.

Hermione moved to the last cauldron. "This is Amortentia. It's a love potion, although it doesn't create actual love. Just stimulates infatuation. It's rumored to smell different to each person. For example, I smell parchment, vanilla, and-and apples."

She stepped back, seeming somewhat shy.

Slughorn took her place and said, "With the powerful infatuation that Amortentia can cause," a few of the girls in the room crept towards the potion "it is perhaps the most dangerous potion in this room." He placed a lid over the cauldron and caused the girls to snap back to reality.

One of the girls that Draco recognized as Gryffindor Chaser, Katie Bell, raised her hand.

"Sir," she said, "you haven't told us what's in that one." She nodded towards a tiny vial.

"Ah!" Slughorn exclaimed in excitement. "What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis. Or, more commonly known as-"

"Liquid luck," Hermione blurted.

"Yes, Miss Granger! Liquid luck. Desperately tricky to make, disastrous should you get it wrong. One sip and you will find that all of your endeavors succeed."

Draco's ears perked up at that. He could use a little luck.

"At least until the effects wear off," Slughorn finished. "So this is what I offer to you today: one tiny vial of liquid luck to the student who in the hour that remains, manages to make an acceptable Draught of Living Death, recipes for which can be found on page ten of your books. I must warn you, however, only once did a student make a potion of such sufficient quality to claim this prize. Nevertheless, good luck to you all."

Draco smirked to himself. This was going to be a piece of cake. Snape had taught him how to make this potion perfectly last year during their summer practice sessions. Unfortunately for him, he was seated at a table with the Golden Trio. He put his book down and began to make the potion. When it came time to cut the beans, nearly everyone in the room was poking their beans with the knife. Weasley tried to stab his but it flew across the room into Slughorn's hand. The old man just shook his head and threw it away, instructing Weasley to get another one. Seamus Finnigan's cauldron exploded, to no one's surprise. Snape had taught Draco to crush the beans instead of cutting them because he said that it would release the juice better.

Apparently, Potter had the same idea. Draco watched as he looked up from his book and crushed the bean with the side of his blade. He looked at the book Potter had and saw writing all over it. He couldn't make out the instructions from such a distance, though.

"How are you both doing that?" Hermione asked Draco and Potter.

"Crush, don't cut," they responded together, then glared at each other.

"The instructions specifically say to cut!" she insisted.

"Hermione, really," Potter said. "Just crush."

"Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Potter for once," Draco said.

Hermione looked over at him. "You aren't even using your book!"

"Because it's wrong."

"So you're saying you know the potion by heart?"

"I learned it without the book so I can't possibly need it now."

Hermione huffed and turned back to her own cauldron. Potter raised an eyebrow at Draco, clearly confused as to why their potions were both doing equally well.

The hour passed quickly and Slughorn went around the room, dropping a flower petal into each cauldron. Finnigan's exploded again. Hermione's petal floated to the bottom and this could be seen because her potion was clear as water.

When a petal was dropped into Potter's cauldron, it shriveled up and crackled before disappearing completely.

"Merlin's beard," Slughorn whispered. "It's perfect! I dare declare you our winner!" He went to Weasley's cauldron next, but there was nothing in it, as the redhead had messed up several times and eventually gave up. When Slughorn put a petal in Draco's cauldron, it did the same thing that Potter's did.

"Bloody Salazar!" Slughorn cried. "Twice in one day! Twice in the same class! This is incredible. Alright, so we have two winners."

"Are they going to battle it out?" Dean Thomas of Gryffindor asked.

"No," Slughorn said, pulling selecting an empty vial from a cabinet. He carefully measure exactly half of the contents of the first vial into the second. Then he gave one to each successful student.

"Here you both go," Slughorn said. "Use it well." He grinned at them and began to clap, the rest of the students joining in.

Draco and Potter glared at each other, both realizing that the competition between them had only truly begun.


	6. Not Dead, Just Busy

As the title reads, I am not dead. School started a couple weeks ago and thanks to AP classes, not only did I have to cram in a bunch of summer assignments before school, but I have a crap ton of work to do now as well. Like I've said a bunch in the past, I will definitely see this series to its end. I'm very proud of it and I love the idea. Besides, I hate it when authors quit writing a book or series and leave us hanging, even if they have an okay reason to do so.

Anyway, sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!...that I haven't been updating, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm not going to leave this project. I'll just have to make time whenever I can to write.

This coming weekend is Labor day weekend (September 5-7) in America so I'll try to update then, but in the meantime, stay well! Don't cry! Draco will be fine with your support.

Of course I could always kill him off and pick a new main character...

JK I would never do that. It's the _Draco Malfoy_ series. I literally can't.

Bye, people, who have taken the time to read this!


	7. 6: Intro to Horcruxes

Why Draco was sitting in the Headmaster's office, he had no clue. Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen, and if he didn't hurry up, Draco would be late for dinner. Not only that, but he would be left with no food because Crabbe and Goyle would eat everything that was untouched by the other Slytherins. And he couldn't go to the kitchens afterwards because he had to hold Quidditch tryouts. Where was the man who Voldemort feared?!

Right on cue, Dumbledore walked through the door.

"I suppose you are wondering why I have called you at such a time," he began without wasting a beat. He walked briskly to his desk and took his seat. "Have you heard the term, 'Horcrux,' before?"

Draco frowned as he tried to remember if he had, but eventually shook his head. "No, sir. I don't recall hearing of it."

"Well, I am sure that you remember the diary that possessed Ginny Weasley in your second year."

Draco only nodded in confirmation so that Dumbledore could get on with whatever he was telling him, but the old man merely sat there, as if waiting for Draco to make some connection.

When he did, he let out an embarrassingly loud "Oh!"

Dumbledore chuckled as he folded his arms on the desk.

Nearly blushing (Malfoys didn't blush), Draco said, "The diary was a Horcrux."

"Indeed. A Horcrux is an object that contains a part of one's soul. In order to create a Horcrux, you must commit one of the worst crimes."

"Murder," Draco realized.

"Exactly. When you kill someone, you can then transfer a piece of your soul into an object. Can you guess why Voldemort was never dead in the first place?"

"He made Horcruxes so his soul would never enter the realm of the dead. It couldn't because it was split up into pieces and scattered."

"So what do you think happened when Harry Potter stabbed the diary with a Basilisk fang that year?"

"He destroyed it, didn't he?" If all the Horcruxes were found and destroyed, then would Voldemort be dead? He voiced this to the headmaster.

"No, not dead. But then he would be vulnerable to death." Dumbledore rose from his seat and began to walk around his office. "Voldemort could be killed if he had no more Horcruxes, and that is why I have enlisted your help."

The old man turned to face Draco.

"You want me to help you find these Horcruxes," Draco realized aloud.

"Exactly, but not exactly."

Draco was really confused now.

"There is a lot of work to be done," Dumbledore told him as he approached his desk and sat back down. "We need to know how many Horcruxes there are, but I am currently unsure of a way to do that. I do, however, know that Tom Riddle asked a certain professor here for information about them."

"That's why Slughorn's here."

"Yes, and also because we needed a teacher. I need to collect a memory from him, but I won't be entrusting you to that task."

Frowning, Draco asked, "Why not?"

"I understand you already have quite a bit to do this year...including killing me." Dumbledore watched his student perceptively as Draco answered:

"Snape told you, didn't he?"

"He's given me a great amount of information over the years. Now, I must give you some: you must successfully bring the Death Eaters into Hogwarts at the end of the year."

Draco stood up and insisted, "No way! I thought we were trying to make sure that _didn't_ happen! How can-"

"Which is what we will discuss momentarily," Dumbledore interrupted. "Or at least we will in a few weeks. Throughout the year, I will provide you with help. And you will take it. By the end of the year, you will have an understanding of why this needs to happen. You will realize it is the only way. Right now, we must discuss something more important. I have been in touch with your father."

Calming down, the sixth year took his seat. "And?"

"He has brought my attention to something I should have thought of before. Have you-" Dumbledore stopped himself.

"Have I what?" Draco asked, on the edge of his seat.

"Never you mind. I will not trouble you further."

"If Lucius is in danger, then I have a right to know," Draco demanded.

Dumbledore sighed. "No, there is nothing wrong. Your father is quite safe. In fact, he has been assisting me with something that I'll be sure to tell you about later."

"Did he say anything else? Specifically about me?"

"Oh, of course!" A large grin appeared on the old man's face. "He wanted to thank you for breaking the curse again and he wishes you luck in all your endeavors. Also, he's sorry that you were made a Death Eater so much earlier than anticipated."

Draco was relieved and barely heard Dumbledore speak, but he got the gist of what Lucius was trying to say. "All I've got to say to him is that I don't think he's at fault for any of this and that family does what family does for family."

"That last part," Dumbledore said, "Lucius said that to me as well."

"Yeah, he used to tell me and Mother that all the time," Draco recalled. Suddenly, he had a thought. "Do you think I'd be able to speak with him?"

Shaking his head, Dumbledore told him, "I'm afraid you must wait some time."

"That I can do. Anyway, what about the Horcruxes? When do we find them?"

"Well, I may have some clue as to where the next one is, but I'll have to do some more research. No, you can't help," Dumbledore finished as Draco was about to offer his assistance. "You've got quite a bit on your plate."

"Plate. Dinner!"

"Ah, yes. You had best get to it, then."

"But about what you just said, I don't really have a lot on my plate." He didn't have to worry about the Vanishing Cabinet stuff for a long time and Dumbledore said they'd figure the end of the year out, that they would talk about everything soon. His schoolwork would be easy to get through since he already knew a lot. "All I really have to do this year is focus on Quidditch."

"That you may think," Dumbledore said mysteriously, "but you never know when you have too much time or when there is not enough."

Draco wondered why his headmaster always spoke in riddles, but he shrugged it off. "I'll go eat then."

As Draco walked out the office, he felt Dumbledore's eyes piercing the back of his head.


	8. 7: Tryout Aggressions

Draco's life couldn't be more perfect, seeing as Slytherin had to hold its Quidditch tryouts with Gryffindor due to a slight error in paperwork. He was awkwardly standing ten feet from Potter, who still wasn't over his broken nose. Potter was awkwardly standing next to Weaslette who looked bored as hell. The Gryffindor team was messing around on the pitch while the Slytherin team was busy glaring at either the red-and-golds or at each other.

"If I could have your attention please," Potter started timidly, but it seemed that only Ron Weasley was listening. "If you could all just-" Potter sighed.

"SHUT IT!" Weaslette screeched, catching everyone off guard. Madam Hooch had now approached the two Gryffindor captains. She had been asked by Dumbledore to monitor the tryouts so that the two rival houses didn't kill each other in the spirit of war.

As Hooch explained to both teams how the evening would go, Draco watched as Gryffindor's Cormac McLaggen tried to flirt with Hermione from the field while she was in the bleachers. Rolling his eyes, Draco reached into his left pocket and felt for his fake Sickle.

 _You look uncomfortable_ , he sent.

Almost instantly, she replied _I am uncomfortable._

 _He seems like a lovely fellow._

Draco saw Hermione snort as she read his message. _I'm sure he's not,_ she sent back.

Nearly laughing at her pain, Draco turned back to his team, whose eyes were either on Madam Hooch or roaming around.

"I repeat," the riding professor said, "there will be no rough-housing, no foul play, no doing anything that will get you off the field before you can say Quidditch! I turn each team over to your captains now."

"Alright, then," Draco said when he had the Slytherins' attention. "As you can see, I am the only player left from last year's team. And we didn't even get to play last year...or the previous year...so I don't know who we've missed out on. But I will say this: Slytherin is more than capable of being the best team so I will have no less than your full potential out on that pitch. Understood?"

The Slytherin team hopefuls nodded.

"Excellent. Now, separate into the positions you are interested in. Chasers here," he pointed to his left, "Keepers here," he pointed to his front, "and Beaters there," he pointed to his right.

"Excuse me," yelled what looked like a second year, "but what about Seeker?"

Everyone on the pitch, even the Gryffindors, became silent.

"What about Seeker?" Draco shot back, towering over the 12-year-old.

"I've been training for Seeker since I was a wee lad! I think I deserve a fair chance. Besides, there's no one else."

Someone, from which team it was unclear, let out an "Ooh!"

"No one else?" Draco repeated, edging closer and furrowing his eyebrows. How dare that kid suggest that there was no one else? Did he not know that Draco was the best Seeker ever to set foot in Hogwarts?

He reached for his wand when he felt another sensation in his pocket coming from the fake Sickle.

 _What do you think you're doing, Voldemort?_

Taken aback by Hermione's boldness, Draco shook himself into reality. He backed up from the second-year, eliciting gasps from the rest of the Quidditch pitch.

"I suggest you try out for Keeper," Draco said. "The position for Seeker was filled five years ago."

The second-year glared at him before joining the other Keeper hopefuls.

Draco directed his attention to everyone else. He spoke, "The Gryffindor team will be at the far end of the pitch while we will stay right here. I will now assemble you into small teams, each of which will demonstrate its strength to me. I will also be switching players whenever I feel like it."

He was able to form six teams of four, each with two Chasers, one Keeper, and one Beater. Two teams would play each other in their half of the pitch with the Keepers switching out every few minutes. When the first pair was ready to begin, Draco rose up into the air with his broom and sat back, ready to make mental notes of the "match." Pushing his earlier behavior back into his mind, to be internally dealt with later, Draco shot out flares with his wand to signal "Start."

After watching all six teams play, Draco made rearrangements and cuts based on what he had seen. To his dismay, the students who had opposed him earlier was actually really good so Draco had to let him stay. With a total of eight people cut for being unbelievably terrible, Draco was able to form four teams. He needed to cut ten more people and they were all pretty competent, but he reckoned a few more rounds of cuts would narrow it down to the best.

When it was down to six people (unfortunately one of them included the second-year from before), Draco had them all sign their names on a piece of parchment. As they did so, he watched as Gryffindor concluded its Keeper tryouts—or at least try to. Weasley and McClaggen were equally competent and Potter just kept running the Chasers against them until someone faltered. But that didn't happen.

"Oi, Potter!" Draco called as he ran down the field.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Potter grumbled. "Come to injure me again?"

"Afraid not," Draco told him with a shrug. "What say you to finding yourself a Keeper by pitching your team against mine?"

"Don't be ridiculous. You've probably armed them with whatever hexes you've learned from your days as a Death Eater."

Draco's wand was at Potter's throat within seconds.

"Hold it!" came Madam Hooch's warning as she made her way to where the two captains stood.

"Don't act like you know everything, okay?" Draco told the Gryffindor. "Because you don't really know anything at all."

"Settle down!" Hooch demanded.

Draco stepped back from Potter and lowered his wand. "For your information, Potter, Weasley has better form. So next time, use that as a tiebreaker instead of doing the same thing over and over again only to see that it isn't working."

Draco stormed off the pitch as quickly as he could. He was met with the new Keeper, a.k.a the kid who tried to show him up earlier trying to apply for the Seeker's position.

"What was that all about?" the younger one asked.

"What's your name again?" Draco said.

"Bradbury Stevens," the new Keeper told him proudly.

"Bradbury Stevens? As in the son of legendary Keeper Cadbury Stevens?"

"Yep! I learned the best from my mother."

"Then why did you want to try out for Seeker?" Draco had expected that Bradbury would want to be just like Cadbury.

"I can't live up to her status as a Keeper. No way! I went out for Seeker so that people wouldn't compare us."

Draco stopped in his tracks. "I won't have this sort of attitude on my team. You're only, what, twelve? What makes you think people would even want to compare you to your mother? You don't need to be a professional to play on a school team. If you work hard enough, however, you could definitely become as good as Cadbury Stevens, maybe better."

"Not better."

"Again with the attitude. I despise people that are insecure about themselves."

"I won't be anymore," Bradbury told his captain before rushing off just as Hermione caught up to them.

"What happened on the pitch today?" she asked, getting straight to it.

"Which time?" Draco asked.

"Both. And I want Harry's nose explained."

"Ah, so he told you." Of course he told her. He probably told all of Gryffindor. "Well, I'm going to be honest. I don't really know. During the first incident on the pitch and when I broke is nose, I just felt really pissed off but I don't know why. As for the second time, Potter was accusing me of being a Death Eater. You didn't have to call me Voldemort, by the way."

Hermione chuckled. "Yes, I did. Clearly that got you to stop being the way you were."

"Do you think being around the Death Eaters has taken a toll on me?"

"You're nothing like-"

"Voldemort. Yes, I know. You told me that last year." Draco thought back to his life since Voldemort found himself a new body. What could have triggered Draco's actions thus far?

"I mean it," Hermione said, walking into the school. "Besides, he doesn't live with you anymore and you weren't acting aggressive when he was. Maybe it's because..." she trailed off.

"Because what?" Draco paused. "You think Potter's right, that I _am_ one."

"No, that's not what I'm-"

"It's okay. It's different coming from you. Potter thinks I wanted to be one. You know better."

"So are you one?"

Hermione seemed like she was holding her breath until Draco gave a slight nod.

"No big deal," she said, almost as if she were trying to convince herself.

Draco didn't want to talk about it anymore. If his actions were a result of getting the mark, why had he been calm all summer? Maybe his mind was toying with him. But whatever it was, he didn't really want to discuss it with Hermione because it only seemed to worry her.

"So how was your summer?" he asked, effectively changing the subject.

"Good...I suppose. Yours?"

"Whatever you would expect." Yawning, he checked the time on the large clock by the Great Hall. "I'd better get to bed. I'll tell you more later."

Waving good night, he descended the stairs to the dungeon for a nice, long break from dealing with the world.


	9. 8: First Match of the Year

Dumbledore seemed like he was trying to speed things up this year because Draco was in the middle of his first Quidditch match with the new team and it was barely the end of September. Although he had initially thought that he would be fine with his load, it turned out that the teachers had other plans. Hours of homework every night combined with long Quidditch practices (also every night) to get everyone in shape for the game that was closer than usual resulted in no free time for Draco. At least once the match was over, there would be a larger gap between practices so that Draco could breathe a little.

The match itself was against, of course, Gryffindor, and thanks to Draco's help, Potter had picked the best possible person to play Keeper.

"Why did I suggest that again?" Draco wondered aloud to himself. He should have just told Potter to go with McClaggen.

Though Slytherin was doing spectacularly, Gryffindor wasn't that bad either. They had been putting up a great fight actually. Bradbury Stevens didn't get to show off his skills against anyone other than Ginny Weasley, the only competent Chaser, but even she didn't have the ball that often thanks to Slytherin's incredible offense. However, Keeper Weasley was blocking every shot made, so the score was—and had been for the past seven hours—zero to zero.

"Lucky bast-" Draco stopped. _Luck_. If Potter had used the liquid luck potion on his team, Draco would kill him.

 _No, not kill. Don't say kill_.

Instead of thinking about that, Draco shifted his attention to how tired he was getting of just sitting on his broom. The snitch hadn't even been let out yet! How the bloody hell was he supposed to catch the snitch if there was no snitch?

 _Calm down, Draco_.

Since the game began, Draco had plenty of time to contemplate his aggressive thoughts and actions lately. There was absolutely nothing he could think of, though. It could have been because he saw people die, but that was nearly a year ago and he hadn't been feeling violent until very recently. Maybe it was because he was stressed, but he he wasn't stressed on the train when he smashed Potter's nose.

Or perhaps he was. It was possible that he was indeed stressed but because he didn't acknowledge how much he really had to deal with, his subconscious being was acting out.

"I'm acknowledging it now," Draco said to the open air as a teammate flew by.

"What?" the teammate said, halting.

"Nothing! Keep go-woah!"

He had seen the snitch and took off almost immediately, not bothering to check if Potter was in hot pursuit. Victory would be Slytherin's, and more importantly, victory would be Draco's.

 _Why is that more important?_ he thought to himself. This thought momentarily distracted him so he didn't see the large pole he was about to hit until he was two seconds from it. His instincts just kicked in and he threw up a shield while pulling the broom up and spinning around. He bounced off the shield and propelled himself in the other direction, passing Potter at a velocity that blew the Gryffindor away...literally. With Potter thrown off course, Draco was inches away from the snitch. Mere inches.

* * *

"Whoo!"

Draco opened his eyes to fuzz. He could barely make out what he was looking at but it seemed to be moving closer and farther away from him. Closer and farther. And closer again. And farther again. And closer...his eyes finally cleared and he saw that the object that was moving was the ceiling.

He tried to tilt his head to look down and caught a glimpse of a large crowd. He could now hear the music blasting throughout the entire...common room? Is that where he was?

He was in the Slytherin common room and people had raised him up while he was unconscious. They were now parading him around the room like Flitwick at the Christmas ball during their fourth year.

"Malfoy! Malfoy! Malfoy!" they were chanting. Suddenly, they dropped Merlin's heir and resumed cheering.

Draco groaned as he got up off the floor. It looked like the Slytherins were having a party, but he couldn't figure out why. Was it Snape's birthday?

He carefully made his way out of the dungeons and stumbled towards the Great Hall. Upon entering, he saw that the entire hall was empty. There wasn't a student or teacher or staff member in sight. Just Draco and a big open room.

"Hungry, master?"

"Woah!" Draco exclaimed, jumping up to see Dobby. The house-elf had appeared right in front of him, somehow sensing that someone was in the hall.

"How did you know I was here, Dobby?" Draco asked.

"Dobby can tell when the master is in distress, sir," the house-elf replied.

"Remember last year I told you not to call me that and you said you wanted to?"

Dobby put a finger on his chin and gazed upward as if trying to recall before saying, "Dobby remembers."

"But I'm not actually your master, so how could you have known? Last year, I called you before the Room of Requirement, but this time I didn't call you at all."

"Dobby is a house-elf so he has a special bond with whoever freed him."

Draco frowned. "That doesn't make sense. You have to do whatever the person who freed you wants?"

Dobby violently shook his head back and forth. "Dobby is aware of any trouble master is in that he can help with. If master Draco falls down stairs while walking with friends, Dobby does not know because friends can help. But when master Draco is hungry, Dobby knows because Dobby can help."

Instead of trying to determine exactly why this was possible, Draco just nodded and said, "You know what? I am hungry."

With a grin, Dobby disapparated. Draco walked over to his usual spot at the Slytherin table, trying to remember what had happened to him earlier that day. He was still in his Quidditch uniform so he must have passed out during the match. A finger snap later and he was in his white collared shirt and black trousers from his school uniform.

Before Dobby could return with Draco's meal, the sixth year was fast asleep on the table.


	10. 9: Night Talk

"It doesn't matter that they won!" Ron was shouting. "We put our best foot forward and we almost had them!"

"Yeah!" came the cheers of agreement.

"And if that cheater Malfoy hadn't pushed Harry aside, the best Seeker to set foot in Hogwarts would have caught the snitch!"

"Yeah!"

"Draco didn't cheat," Hermione whispered to Harry.

"I know," Harry admitted, "but Ron's on a roll."

Hermione just crossed her arms and huffed. "And you're not the best Seeker," she muttered to herself.

"So why should we let this loss get us down?" Row continued. "We deserve a celebration too!"

"YEAH!"

As the Gryffindors began their partying, Hermione found a nice pillar to lean against while rolling her eyes at her peers. To her surprise, Harry came to join her.

"Looks like this one's all about Ron," he said, shrugging.

"I still can't believe you used the liquid luck on him, Harry!" Hermione told him. She turned to see Ron jumping up and down like some sort of orangutan. Then she turned back to Harry and voiced this.

"Orangutan?" He seemed to think about this for a bit before saying, "Yeah I can see that. The hair and all. But I didn't actually use it on him." He pulled out the vial Slughorn had given him and held it up to the light.

Coming to a realization, Hermione said, "You only made him think that you put it in."

"That's right."

"So he was doing well all on his own."

"Looks like he is," Harry commented as he watched Lavender Brown jump Ron and kiss him full on the mouth.

Hermione was first confused but then she realized what Harry was talking about. She scoffed and marched away with what Harry could have sworn were tears in her eyes. He was about to follow her, to console her about Ron, but Ginny approached him, so he let his best friend go.

Good thing he did, too. Hermione was hungry and went down to the Great Hall in order to get into the kitchens. To her second surprise of the evening, Draco Malfoy was hunched over the table and it looked like he was asleep.

Draco opened his eyes at the sound of the Great Hall doors closing. He saw a figure walking up to him from a distance but couldn't make it out right away.

"What are you doing here?"

That was Hermione's voice. Draco lifted his head and answered with, "Food." Then he saw the drops running down her face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Hermione told him that she had just seen Lavender Brown and Weasley snogging and it angered her to no end.

 _Good,_ Draco thought. _Maybe she doesn't like me like that anymore_.

"I can't believe that Lavender would go for someone so arrogant and prejudiced!" she continued.

 _Suppose not_.

"He just got done making this huge speech about how you cheated and that Harry was the best Seeker, but the whole school knows that neither of those things is true. It was so frustrating to see everyone cheer for Ronald while he was badmouthing you. As if Gryffindors are all so perfect and pure!"

Draco, though taken aback by Hermione's outburst, couldn't help but laugh at that.

"What?" she demanded, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I never thought I'd see the day you say something like that about Gryffindors."

"Well, it's true! I can't believe they all think Slytherins are all pure evil and they're so bloody brilliant when they're the ones who are stereotyping!" Hermione looked like she was about to go on, but she was interrupted by the grumble of her stomach.

Just then, plates of enough food for both of them appeared.

Shocked, Hermione asked, "How did you do that?"

"I came in here and I was hungry and Dobby instantly appeared to me."

"Doesn't he only come if you can call him? Especially since you freed him."

"I thought so too, but he says that he's still bonded to me because I freed him so he can sense whenever I'm in need of help and there's no one around that could help me." Draco explained to Hermione what Dobby had explained to him earlier, hoping that she made better sense of it than he did.

"I can't believe that the Wizarding World has a loophole like that!" Hermione seemed even more irritated than before.

"Calm down!" Draco commanded. "I don't think you realize that house-elves actually enjoy serving us."

Hermione groaned. "Of course you would think that. Wizards have been brainwashing house-elves into thinking that."

Draco knew he had just entered an argument he couldn't win so he changed the subject. "About my summer. I never got a chance to tell you."

It seemed like those words had done the trick—Hermione cheered up and started to eat, as if she had completely forgotten who made the food.

"So what happened?"

"The second I got home, I was initiated." He paused to think about how he would phrase what he was about to say next. "I got marked, but then there was more. He, um, he had me torture Sirius."

Hermione dropped her fork and gasped. "Oh my goodness! How terrible of him!"

"Well, what did you think? He'd let me off without a 'taste' of the dark side of the world?" Draco said. "It was painful. For me, I mean. I mean, I'm sure it was painful for Sirius, but I hated doing it. That man is my mother's cousin, for crying out loud! He taught me to be an Animagus and-"

"Wait, what did you just say?" Hermione looked like she was having the most surprising and shocking day ever. "You're an Animagus?"

Draco got up from the bench he was sitting on and concentrated. Soon, there was an Arctic wolf in his place.

Hermione bounced up and clapped. "That's incredible! How did you do it?"

Draco turned back into a human and said, "He had me go through a series of steps that I can't remember. If you would like, I could have him teach you."

The Gryffindor looked like she could burst with delight. "What do you think I'd be?" she asked as they both sat back down.

"Not sure," Draco told her honestly. "I mean, an owl is wise, but there are already so many owls in the Wizarding World. And you're just not Gryffindor enough to be a lion."

Hermione wasn't sure what he meant by that. "Excuse me?"

"What? Oh, no! I didn't mean it offensively. I meant that you're actually smart and you're not reckless. When you tricked Umbridge into the forest, I was very impressed with your inner Slytherin."

Hermione blushed as she muttered a thanks. Straightening back up, she said, "That's the thing, though. There's a little bit of each house in all of us. I mean, you're Ravenclaw smart, Gryffindor brave, and Hufflepuff hard-working."

Draco scoffed. "Please do not compare me to a Hufflepuff." Hermione rolled her eyes at this and asked him to finish his thought from earlier, about Sirius.

"Well, I'm the one who freed him during our third year. We bonded over family and becoming an Animagus, and then I freed him with myself."

"Sorry, what was that? With yourself?"

Draco explained the situation with the time turner and how disorienting the whole thing was.

"That's confusing," Hermione said. "But it all makes so much sense. So what else happened this summer?"

"Old Voldy gave me a task."

"Don't call him that," Hermione snapped. "He could-"

"Kill me? I doubt he tabooed his name or any possible nicknames people might have for him." That being said, Voldemort was certainly capable of doing so. "Anyway, he wants me to kill Dumbledore by the end of this year."

"What?! You can't do that!"

"And I won't. Besides, thanks to Snape, Dumbledore already knows everything that's going to happen and he's going to try to make a plan to stop it." Draco thought back to fourth year, when Dumbledore had a chance to stop Moody but he didn't listen.

Hermione caught the uncertain look on Draco's face. "You don't seem too confident in all this."

Taking a deep breath, Draco explained the situation at the third Triwizard Tournament task and that Cedric Diggory's life could have been spared.

"Wow," was all Hermione managed to say. "Is there anything else I should know about everything you've done?"

So Draco told her everything she didn't already know, from the beginning of year one up until the last thing he remembered before passing out. After Hermione got over the shock of all the reveals (including the one where Draco admitted he knew she liked him), Draco asked what had happened at the end of the Quidditch match.

"You were knocked unconscious for some reason just as you caught the snitch," she told him, glad that they weren't talking about her crush.

"We won?" Draco realized out loud. "So _that's_ why they were cheering for me as they passed me around the room."

"Slytherin celebration?" Hermione asked.

"That's why I'm down here."

"Same, except I'm in Gryffindor."

After a moment of silence, Draco spoke his mind: "I'm glad I finally told someone everything I've been through. It was actually getting kind of difficult to handle."

"I bet it caused you a lot of stress, huh?"

"Stress..." Draco thought back to his internal discussion about what was making him aggressive. He told Hermione what he had come up with, that the stress of everything was weighing him down.

"Well, perhaps now that you've told me, you'll feel better," she suggested. "If you don't lash out at anyone tomorrow, we'll know your telling me everything worked."

As they finished their dessert, the empty dinnerware vanished and they began walking out of the Great Hall.

Hermione started, "You know, I can't believe you've saved so many people. Especially Harry in the tournament's second task. I'd always thought that he used _Ascendio_ to propel himself out of the water."

"Nope, that was me," Draco proudly stated.

"Don't tell me you're going to get a big head now," Hermione said.

"Don't tell me I don't already have one," Draco playfully shot back.

When they reached the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, they parted ways.

"Good night, Draco," Hermione called.

"Night."

Walking back to the dungeons, Draco realized that maybe he didn't have to be alone in his struggles. Maybe it was good that Hermione was there for him.


	11. 10: The Ring

Draco woke up to Fawkes pecking at his head. How the phoenix even got into the dormitories confounded Draco, but clearly, Dumbledore must have sent the bird the retrieve Draco. Yawning as quietly as he could, he slipped out of bed and put on his robe. He got ready to follow the bird, but it just hovered above him. Reaching for it, he whispered, "Fawkes!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Crabbe stir. Looking back up, Draco realized that Fawkes had flown a bit higher. Draco jumped for him again, but the bird just flew higher. Making one more leap, Draco lifted both arms and caught Fawkes's tail.

Suddenly, he and the bird disappeared through a vortex of fire and appeared in Dumbledore's office. Draco landed on the floor and the bird happily flew to its owner, who was hunched over his desk, scanning through a very ancient looking book.

"Mister Malfoy," the headmaster acknowledged without raising his head.

Draco stood up and made his way over to Dumbledore's desk, taking a seat across from him. Clearing his throat, he asked, "So why did you need me? Oh, and how did Fawkes do that whole transportation thing?"

"Do you recall several weeks ago when I told you about Horcruxes?"

Draco nodded, but decided that a verbal affirmation was better since Dumbledore was still looking at his book.

"Well," the old man continued, "I seem to have found another one, or at least an excellent location for one."

"What? Really?"

Dumbledore lifted his head and passed the book to Draco. The page showed a map of the Gaunt family home, which seemed to be quite small.

"Who are the Gaunts?" Draco asked.

"Tom Riddle's mother was Merope Gaunt, daughter of Marvolo Gaunt," Dumbledore explained. "This home was been around for quite some time, but not as long as you might think. You see, I created this book to contain all the information I have found on Voldemort's Horcruxes. That is why the following pages are empty. However, that is beside the point."

"You think the next Horcrux is here," Draco realized.

"It wouldn't hurt to take a look. Voldemort was quite taken with his heritage. He may have been half-Muggle, but he was also half wizard, and through that lineage was connected to Slytherin himself. His mother's childhood home must have some meaning to him."

"So you're thinking of checking it out?"

"We won't be needing that map since the Gaunt shack is in ruins."

"What do you mean by 'we,' Professor?"

When Dumbledore didn't answer, Draco concluded that "we" meant he and Draco.

"I hope you feel better from your Quidditch game," Dumbledore said, rising from his seat.

"That was a week ago."

"Good." Without warning, the Headmaster grabbed Draco's arm and they disapparated from the office.

 _I've got to learn how to apparate soon,_ Draco thought.

They arrived in front of what was supposed to be the Gaunt shack.

Dumbledore began to speak. "I was in Azkaban recently and I spoke to Tom's uncle, Morfin. He was the last person to live here, actually."

"Why was he in Azkaban?" Draco wondered aloud.

"He was there for the murder of Voldemort's muggle father and muggle grandparents."

"But Voldemort killed them."

"Yes," Dumbledore said, "he did. It was too late for Morfin when I finally discovered the real memory buried deep in his mind. I will show it to you when we return if you would like, but the main thing is this: whatever Morfin Gaunt was, he did not deserve to die as he did; blamed for a crime he didn't commit."

"So is that how you even got here?" Draco inquired. "You saw the place in his memory." He had read that in order to apparate somewhere, a wizard had to know what his destination looked like exactly.

"Precisely."

"Where is it, then?"

"Why, hidden amongst all these weeds and brush, of course!" Dumbledore exclaimed, oddly cheerful.

"There must be some sort of protective enchantment around the shack," Draco said, "seeing how Voldemort wouldn't want a piece of his soul to be so easily found."

"And for this, we must exercise great caution."

Dumbledore stepped forward, and with a wave of his wand, he brushed the vegetation away, revealing a small wooden home that had nearly fallen apart. He beckoned for Draco to follow him as he edged towards the remains. Draco could sense the magic that shielded the old Gaunt house, but for good measure, he sent a Penetration charm towards it. Just as he had expected, it bounced off.

"Do you know what sort of protection that is?" asked Draco.

Dumbledore merely nodded and sent a few spells toward the shield. Draco could feel the magic dissolving quite quickly. Surely Voldemort would have tried something more concealing and more difficult to break through.

As if sensing his question, Dumbledore said, "Tom Riddle was quite young the last time he was here, and at my age, I can break through whatever spell a young adult like Tom could put into place."

Dumbledore carefully shoved open the door that looked like it was barely hanging on by its weak hinges.

"I can't believe a family lived here," Draco stated once he'd entered. Then again, he was used to the mansion that was Malfoy Manor. There wasn't a single discernible object in sight. Everything was covered in a mound of dust. At first, he thought there was no way neither he nor Dumbledore could find the Horcrux in this midst, especially if they didn't know what they were looking for.

"We're looking for a ring," Dumbledore told him. "In Morfin's memory, Tom took Marvolo Gaunt's ring from him. I suspect that the ring is a Horcrux."

Now Draco knew what they were looking for and he realized that he could feel the dark magic calling to him. He wasn't sure if that was because he was Merlin's heir, a Death Eater, or because the Horcrux was just that powerful.

"Can you feel that?" Draco asked Dumbledore.

"Yes. Magic always leaves a trail, especially dark magic."

So it had nothing to do with Draco in particular. That was a relief. It seemed that becoming a Death Eater truly had no magical components other than vaporization at will...wait. He could vaporize at will! He had completely forgotten that so he didn't really need to learn how to apparate. But should he indulge in the dark magic? Maybe the vaporization wasn't so much dark as was the Voldemort supporting part. All he knew was that since he had unburdened himself by sharing everything with Hermione, he had felt loads better. He could consult her about his problem.

As he reached into his left pocket, Draco realized that Hermione was probably asleep, seeing how Fawkes had woken him up in the middle of the night. He also realized that Dumbledore had already begun looking around so maybe he did have time to at least send Hermione the message.

 _I can vaporize. Should I?_

To his surprise, he received a reply almost second later.

 _Is this a DE power?_

 _Did I wake you?_ Draco asked.

 _Charmed coin in case of emergency._

So she had actually charmed the coin to wake her up because Draco was important enough to her.

 _Well, it is a DE power._

 _You could always learn to apparate,_ came the answer.

 _But now I don't have to._

There was a long pause for a few moments.

 _Want to talk about this?_ she finally said.

 _Can't right now._

 _Why, where are you?_

"Where exactly are we, sir?" Draco asked Dumbledore as they both lifted up a floorboard.

"Little Hangleton."

 _Little Hangleton._

 _What? Why?_

Draco hesitated before sending _Will explain later._

 _Just be careful._

 _Okay and good night._

After lifting up a few more floorboards, they found one that was just emitting magic. They hadn't seen it before because it was under a topple over chair, but once they had, they knew it was the one.

"More enchantments," Dumbledore said.

However, these weren't as powerful as the ones protecting the shack so Draco was able to send a few wandless spells at the invisible shield, crumbling it and its hexes.

"Well done," came Dumbledore's approval. "We must beware now."

Draco nodded his understanding and together, they lifted the board. Under it was a small golden box, shaking vehemently. Without thinking, Draco reached for it, but for some reason, Voldemort had failed to put up any enchantments around it.

"One question," Draco said once he had gotten hold of the box. "How are we going to destroy this thing?"

"There are very few forces powerful enough to destroy a Horcrux. One of them is basilisk venom."

"The basilisk is dead."

Dumbledore just smiled as he took off his hat. Upon examining it more closely, Draco saw that it was the Sorting Hat. Dumbledore reached into the hat and pulled out the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

"This," Dumbledore told him, holding up the sword, "was what you used to stab the snake in your second year. What you did not know then was that this sword has the power to absorb everything its blade comes into contact with."

"The sword is now imbued with the basilisk venom," Draco concluded. "So it can be used to destroy the ring, or whatever we find in this box."

"I surmise that destroying the Horcrux won't be so easy."

"Potter destroyed one in second year so-"

"But not until it had tried to kill him, if you remember."

Draco did remember and he braced himself for the worst. "I'll open it, you kill it." Ever so carefully, Draco undid the lock with a swift hand motion and the top swung back. He flinched as if a great light were to emerge, but nothing. Dumbledore leaned forward and picked up the ring by the stone.

"I recognize this symbol," he commented, showing it to Draco. It was a line splitting in half a circle that was inscribed in a triangle.

"The Deathly Hallows," Draco said.

"You know of them?"

"Of course. Mother read me the tales of Beedle the Bard as a child and she also explained the historical context. But I didn't think they were real."

"I believe the stone this ring was made from is the Resurrection Stone." Dumbledore went into deep thought and Draco wondered if the old man was contemplating using the ring.

"Don't wear it," Draco warned. "Remember what happened to Cadmus Peverell."

But Dumbledore didn't acknowledge Draco's words. "Arianna..." he whispered.

Draco had no clue who that was, but he had every notion that Dumbledore was about to put on the ring.

"No, Professor, it's probably got a curse!" he exclaimed. He sprang forward and knocked the ring out of Dumbledore's hand just as the professor was about to put it on. However, Draco's landing was unfortunate and he was in the perfect position for the ring to slip onto his finger...which it did.

 **A/N: Don't think Draco's safe. I could easily kill him off at the end of the series by making Snape slow his curse significantly. But I hope you liked that chapter.**


	12. 11: The Curse

For once in his life, Draco was grateful for the hundreds of Cruciatus curses he'd been placed under because right now, as the ring's curse caused a pain that quickly overtook his body, he could barely feel it.

Okay, he could definitely feel it, but it didn't seem like it was having that much of an effect on him. Of course, since this was Voldemort's curse, Draco would probably end up dying. Yeah, that wasn't so appealing.

"Take off the ring!" Dumbledore commanded. Draco obeyed, but he found that he couldn't.

"It's stuck to my finger!" he exclaimed. He pulled the ring harder but it didn't work. The pain had now reached his neck and his body fell limp onto the ground.

"Stay still!" Dumbledore unnecessarily ordered.

Of course Draco would stay still. He actually couldn't move. It felt like his entire body was on fire and his limbs had gone stiff. He couldn't see Dumbledore because of the way his head was positioned but he felt his headmaster grab his arm and rotate it so that his palm was flat on the floor. As his legs began twitching on their own, all Draco could hope was that Dumbledore wasn't about to cut his fingers off.

All of a sudden, he felt a pressure on his finger and a loud roar echo throughout the shack. His head started throbbing and he felt himself blacking out, only to be woken a few seconds later. Dumbledore was shaking him violently.

"What just happened?" Draco asked, unable to forget what he saw during those few seconds. He felt a sensation in his pocket but he couldn't take out the coin, not in front of Dumbledore.

"I destroyed the ring with the sword," Dumbledore began, "and these smoky figures attacked me. That was Voldemort's soul being demolished. We must get out of here, but alas, you cannot be apparated nor left alone."

The ring was gone, but the curse was still there, evidenced by the blackening of his left hand. The darkness was slowly spreading up his arm, and although Draco could sit up, he was unable to lift his hand off the ground. Dumbledore quickly moved his hand over Draco's and the blackness dissolved.

Just then, there was a crack, and Dobby appeared.

"Master is in trouble," the house-elf said.

"Dobby, you must retrieve Professor Snape," Dumbledore instructed without even questioning how Dobby knew what was going on or how he got there.

In a flash, Dobby disappeared and reappeared with the potions teacher.

"You asked for me?" Snape drawled, ignoring the Slytherin on the floor.

"Quickly, Severus," Dumbledore said. "We destroyed a Horcrux, but not before it cursed Draco. I fear he is on the path to death. By myself, I cannot reverse the effects of the curse. You must help me slow this down as best as we can so that we can actually take him back to Hogwarts, where we can try to determine what has overtaken him and hopefully save him."

Snape just nodded and brandished his wand, Dumbledore doing the same. Draco even took out his wand from the wand holder Hermione had given him.

 _Hermione!_ he remembered. He summoned the coin from his left pocket as the two professors set to work on his left hand.

 _He might know where you go when you vaporize._

So that option was out.

Turning to the two men, Draco asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing," Dumbledore told him. "You must remain still."

"I'm not so sure we have enough strength to do what needs to be done," Snape said. "Perhaps he can help."

"What do you want me to do?" Draco repeated. "I want to get back as soon as possible."

Snape went over what each of them would do and they began. Spells flew around Draco's left hand as the three wizards worked to save him. Draco had never been more focused or thankful for his heritage. If only Merlin were here, perhaps Draco could be saved. But he realized that Merlin lived on in Draco. There was hope after all.

Draco put in the last of his energy as they completed the job and passed out as he was apparated back to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore and Snape appeared in the headmaster's office with Draco in their arms.

"Professor!" Harry called as the professors were in sight. "I just had a vision-what's going on?"

Ron and Hermione were right next to him as they all noticed Draco and the state he was in.

"What happened to him?" Hermione demanded, not caring how she appeared in front of Harry and Ron.

"We must get him to the Infirmary," Dumbledore said, pushing past them. They all hurried away from the office and met up with Madam Pomfrey right outside the doors.

"What on earth-" she began.

"Bed, Poppy," Dumbledore interrupted. The nurse spun around and pushed open the doors as everyone rushed in. The two professors set Draco down and Dumbledore turned to Pomfrey.

"He was cursed by very dark magic put into place by Voldemort himself."

Nearly everyone in the room gasped.

The headmaster continued, "He helped Severus and me stop the curse but we need to know all the effects it has taken on him. And he's only passed out because he used what little energy he had left to help us. Severus and I will attempt to identify exactly how Voldemort cursed the ring-"

"Ring?" Harry and Hermione piped up at once.

"-but we require the effects in order to do that," Dumbledore kept going as if no one had said a thing. "He may be curse-free for now, but it could come back any time. We didn't even get to his hand that quickly. I should have done something immediately but..." he trailed off, entering the deep abyss of his mind as he walked out of the room without another word, followed by Snape.

Madam Pomfrey went away to fetch her materials.

"Now's our chance!" Harry exclaimed.

"What?" Ron said.

"Let's see if he's got the mark."

"No, Harry!" Hermione admonished.

"Why not? Why do you think he was cursed in the first place? Maybe he did something wrong."

"Dumbledore was with him! I don't know where they were" lie "but if Dumbledore and Snape carried him here, then I suspect they were there with Draco."

"Why did you call him that?" Ron questioned.

Frustrated, Hermione shouted, "Oh, grow up! It's his name! I never believed that you two could be so insensitive."

Her anger jolted Draco awake.

"Hermione?" he mumbled.

"Yes?"

"I saw him. He was angry...and he was scared. When Dumbledore destroyed the ring, I saw the Dark Lord...and he was furious. I think he knows he's in trouble." With that, Draco fell asleep.

"So Dumbledore was there," Hermione confirmed. She turned to Harry, who was frowning. "Oh, what is it this time?"

"That's exactly what I saw! Right before I went to Dumbledore, I saw Voldemort getting really pissed off. It was like someone destroyed his soul...not that he has one."

Suddenly Hermione knew exactly what Dumbledore and Draco had been doing. Draco had told her all about the conversation he'd had with the professor about Horcruxes. This ring must have been one.

It wasn't until hours later that Draco finally awoke for good, and he was surprised to find Hermione still at his side. The morning sun poured in through the windows.

"Have you been here the entire time?" Draco asked, remembering the few seconds during which he'd been awake earlier.

"Were you and Dumbledore looking for a Horcrux?" Hermione said, jumping right to it.

Draco nodded, wincing at the pain from the movement.

Madam Pomfrey came into the room and told him, "You must stay in the Infirmary until tomorrow morning. I want to run a few more tests and make sure that you don't walk out of here unless you're stable."

As she retreated into her office, Dumbledore and Snape approached him.

Snape said, "We have reason to believe that you are not safe yet. We first thought that we stopped the curse, but we only temporarily stopped its effects."

"So you figured out what it was?" Hermione asked.

She received a nod from the Potions professor as Dumbledore told Draco, "The curse is still very much present and its effects could return at any moment. Once Madam Pomfrey has completed her analysis, we will know for sure what will happen to you. For now, I recommend plenty of rest and hope. I have a feeling you will be fine."

Draco hoped he was right. He didn't fear death, but he sure wasn't ready for it. At least not while Voldemort was still around. He decided to obey Dumbledore and go to sleep, not realizing that his cursed left hand was in Hermione's.


	13. 12: Doubting Plans & Planning Doubts

Draco was relieved to be rid of the curse. Well, for now. After Madam Pomfrey had run her tests, she, along with Snape and Dumbledore, were able to confirm that the effects wouldn't return any time soon. Dumbledore had, however, predicted that the effects would be back in time for Christmas.

"You had better stick around during winter vacation," the headmaster had told him and Draco had agreed.

It had been about a month since then, but it had been like time stood still. Hours of class, followed by hours of homework, followed by hours of Quidditch practice (although practice wasn't everyday). Draco had no time to talk to Hermione or the Bradbury kid who idolized him now. He had no time to go through the books he'd found in the Malfoy library so he had no clue what to do about a vanishing cabinet. And most importantly, he had no time to figure out a way to kill Dumbledore without really killing him.

The first Hogsmeade visit had arrived, though, and Draco had come up with a halfhearted plan to show that he was indeed attempting to kill Dumbledore but that he was failing. All Draco feared was that his attempts would actually work and that the greatest wizard ever (save for Merlin, of course) would die.

As Draco waited for the other students to board the carriages so that by the time he actually got to the village it would be fairly busy and he could blend in, he felt his fake Sickle receive a message. Taking it out, he saw _You're coming, right?_

 _No_ , he replied, _lots of work to do_.

 _That's too bad,_ she answered. But Draco knew that Hermione knew that he wasn't talking about schoolwork. "That's too bad" meant "I wish you didn't have to go through all this and that I could help you out."

Draco had wrapped himself in Potter's Invisibility Cloak and was standing outside as the clock finally struck 10 and the carriages rolled out. Thankfully, he had placed a warming charm on the cloak because his walk to Hogsmeade would be long. In a pocket on the inside of his robe was the vial of Liquid Luck he had always carried with him. However, what he would use momentarily was in a vial next to that one. It was an aqueous solution, the solute being the slightest bit of aconite. Taken, the solution would definitely induce death, but Draco had other plans.

After quite some time, Draco finally reached the entrance to the village and continued on his way towards the Shrieking Shack. No, he couldn't apparate to his intended destination, Borgin & Burkes, but he could certainly vaporize there. If Voldemort did actually track his Death Eaters' moves, then Draco would have no problem explaining this away. Unfortunately, vaporizing could be seen by others, and he wouldn't be able to do that while wearing an Invisibility Cloak.

"Track," Draco muttered to himself, as if he had forgotten something. "Tracks!" he whisper-exclaimed, spinning around to see the very obvious boot prints covering the snow. With his hand, he levitated himself, and with his mind, he kept his cloak from falling off. With his other hand, he erased all the footprints from where he had first stepped onto the ground to where he had just been standing. Placing a charm on his shoes to prevent them from making anymore prints, he floated back to the ground.

"Well done, Draco," he commended himself.

 _You could have just floated all the way there,_ the critic in the back of his mind said.

"That would have taken up my energy," Draco said aloud. And he had no clue how much energy he would need to vaporize somewhere, having never done it before.

 _Why didn't you try it out this summer?_

Now that he thought about it, Draco could have done a lot this summer. If he had figured out everything about the vanishing cabinet, he could have come to Hogwarts prepared. Maybe he could have contacted Dumbledore with Duchess, his owl, or through a Patronus. He would've known about the Horcruxes earlier and they could have found them earlier. Perhaps Voldemort would be dead by the new year and Draco wouldn't even have to worry about the cabinet.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Draco realized that even if he had spent his summer researching the cabinet, it would have done him no good. He would have been less prepared for his encounter with Marvolo Gaunt's ring. Also, the whole relaxation part of summer was pretty important. If he had spent the summer doing more than just eating, sleeping, and learning a bit of magic, he would hate being stressed at school right after he thought the stress of summer was gone.

Draco was feeling better about his life choices as he reached the empty stretch of land by the Shrieking Shack. He removed and folded the Invisibility Cloak, placing it in one of his many robe pockets. This exposed him to the cold weather so he redid the warming charm for his robe.

"Alright, let's give this a go," he said. There was no motion that could be done—it was all about the mind. He concentrated hard and the next thing he knew, he was in Knockturn Alley, right in front of the store filled with all sorts of objects containing dark magic.

He walked into the store, knowing exactly what he was going to buy. Before his second year, Lucius had taken him to Borgin & Burkes and Draco had noticed an opal necklace. There was a label on it that read: _DO NOT TOUCH! Cursed. Has claimed the lives of nineteen Muggle owners to date._

Of course, Draco had no intention of killing anyone so the necklace would be a dangerous bet. Correctly performed magic was the key to making sure that no one got hurt. He supposed that he should have planned out everything before jumping on the first idea that popped into his head (which happened that morning at breakfast). But there was no time to waste. It was already November—surely Voldemort was getting a little suspicious.

If only Draco could see into the Dark Lord's mind like he had when Dumbledore had destroyed the Horcrux. When he had told his headmaster about the vision upon waking from his rest, Dumbledore had informed him that Potter had had the exact vision and that Draco's mind must somehow be connected to Voldemort's. Why that was the case, no one was sure because Draco had not experienced a thing Potter had that no one else had that had to do with Voldemort. Or perhaps it was because he was a Death Eater. Voldemort may not have realized that side effect to marking his followers. Draco wondered how he would figure out if all the other Death Eaters had seen the vision.

 _It's not important_ , Draco thought. And even if it was, he could always think about it later. All he knew was that Dumbledore had said that because Marvolo Gaunt's ring was the second Horcrux Riddle had made, it contained the second largest piece of his soul, which was most likely why Voldemort was able to feel the effects of its destruction. The Dark Lord would want to suspect everyone of destroying the Horcruxes but Draco refused to give his "master" any reason to suspect him.

With that, Draco marched into Borgin & Burkes, knowing that he was on the right track.


	14. 13: Almost With No Mistakes

Borgin & Burkes was crowded—with dark objects, that is. As for customers, Draco was the only one in the shop. The grandfather clock behind the counter read 10:30, as did Draco's watch. The clock was soon blocked when Borgin came out and greeted the young Death Eater, as the bell still chimed from when Draco entered the store.

"Good morning, Mister Malfoy," the man said. "Come to take a look at the cabinet, eh?"

"Actually, no," Draco said. He glanced around the store, his eyes resting on the cabinet for only a few seconds. He couldn't see the necklace anywhere.

"Do you still have the opal necklace that curses anyone who touches it?" he asked Borgin.

Frowning, Borgin told him he did. "I keep it in the back now. There was an incident some time ago."

"Could you bring it out?"

Borgin seemed a little hesitant as he left the counter. He returned quickly, holding a carefully wrapped package.

"I'd prefer it if you kept it in the package—alright then."

Draco had already taken out his wand and removed the brown paper to reveal the necklace sitting on a black display.

"How will I know it still works? And no, I won't be using it on someone random. The Dark Lord says I must save my first kill for someone important."

Borgin must not have considered himself important because he sighed with relief.

"After I've taken care of Dumbledore though..." Draco trailed off on purpose just to take in the frightened look on Borgin's face. "Anyway," Draco continued, "I'll be purchasing this. I have enough money to spare in case this bloody thing doesn't work. Of course I'll have to send someone down here then." Again, he cherished Borgin's fear before saying, "You know, to repair the necklace when I return it. Just kidding, I can fix it myself."

He couldn't.

Taking the package, Draco thanked the owner, saying, "You know what Gringotts account to charge." Instead of bothering to exit the shop first, he just tucked the package into his robe and vaporized. Fortunately, there was still no one near the Shrieking Shack. Draco quickly slipped on the Invisibility Cloak and started on his way towards The Three Broomsticks. He took a quick look behind him to check whether the no-footprint charm on his shoes was still intact (it was). This was turning out to be easier than he thought.

Holding out his wand, he Imperiused the closest person to the pub's door to open the door completely and the walk in after Draco so that a door opening and closing on its own didn't look weird. Once he was in, Draco maneuvered carefully through the sea of students to the front.

"Imperio!" he whispered as his wand pointed at Madam Rosmerta. He focused on the task at hand and began commanding the bartender.

"One second," Rosmerta said, ending her conversation with a customer. "Loo."

Draco made her enter the back where the bottles where stored. "Find something for Dumbledore," he instructed.

Rosmerta scanned the selection and chose a bottle of mead. Upon Draco's direction, she set in down and went to block the door. Draco removed the Invisibility Cloak and placed it on the ground. He took out the vial of aconite and water solution and emptied it into the mead. Now, the poison would not kill immediately if the mead was drunk. If Dumbledore was stupid enough to actually drink the mead without testing it, then this would prevent him from dying immediately and the headmaster would surely know how to fix his problem then.

Draco resealed the bottle and put the vial away. He wrapped the Invisibility Cloak around himself and had Rosmerta pick up the mead. He directed her to the women's powder room, gave her the package, and instructed her to Imperius the first person she saw alone into taking the package to Dumbledore without asking any questions. Draco waited outside as Rosmerta took care of everything.

A couple minutes later, Rosmerta emerged, followed by Katie Bell. As Bell left The Three Broomsticks, a girl that seemed to be her friend followed her. Draco hoped she wouldn't be any trouble as he led Rosmerta, who was still holding the mead, back to the bar.

"We'll be there," he heard a familiar voice say. He turned to see Slughorn talking to the Golden Trio.

"Good to see you, Wollenby," the Potions professor told Weasley. He left the students and made his way to the bar, just as Draco had hoped.

After forcing Rosmerta to make small talk with Slughorn, Draco had her give Slughorn the mead.

"This is a gift to Albus," Rosmerta told Slughorn. "He had requested this some time ago but I never had the time to go find it."

"Not to worry!" Slughorn said "I'll get it to him with no problem." He left to go talk to some other people he had apparently noticed at Hogwarts.

Draco lifted Rosmerta from the curse and followed the Golden Trio out the door. He made it just in time, too, for Hermione was about to shut the door. Draco hurried past them to see how Katie Bell was doing on her mission. She and her friend were talking about something.

"I'm fine, Leanne!" Bell insisted.

Leanne seemed worried. "You're acting really strange, you know. Ever since you came back from the loo."

"I've just got to get this to Dumbledore immediately."

 _Damn right, you do,_ Draco thought.

"Just let me see what it is," Leanne said, tugging at the package.

"No, no one else can touch it!" Bell shouted, tugging it back and tearing it. Suddenly, she rose into the air and an invisible force seemed to grab her arms and legs and tug them in opposite directions. Bell cried out in pain, spinning in the air.

 _What did I just do?_ Draco asked himself. Bell was wearing gloves so could it have been his fault? Nevertheless, he knew he had to help. Wandlessly, he calmed her down, but she collapsed to the ground.

"Katie!" Leanne shrieked, rushing forward. The Golden Trio had also run to where they were all standing, having seen the commotion, and Hagrid was with them.

"I'll take her ter the Infirmary," Hagrid said. He picked Bell up and carried her all the way back, the students on his tail.

"What just happened?" Hermione asked Leanne.

"I don't know," she responded tearfully. "I mean, one second she was fine. Then she went to the loo, and when she came out, she was holding this package." Leanne was now holding the package. "I tried to figure out what was going on, but she seemed like she was under some sort of spell."

"I've seen that necklace before," Potter realized. "In my second year, when I accidentally went to Knockturn Alley instead of Diagon Alley. I went to Borgin & Burkes and saw that necklace. It kills whoever touches it." Seeming like he had just come to another realization, Potter exclaimed, "It's Malfoy!"

At first, Draco thought that he was visible again, but then Potter continued.

"When I was in that shop all those years ago," the Boy Who Thought He Was So Brilliant started, "I saw Lucius and Draco Malfoy there and I'm pretty sure I remember Draco eyeing the necklace."

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry," Hermione said. "Draco's not even here! How could he possibly have cursed Katie? And don't you think that a necklace like that would have been caught by Dumbledore?"

"He's a Death Eater, Hermione. He's got methods. Plus, Hogsmeade is huge. We may not have even seen him."

"But Katie was in The Three Broomsticks. We would have seen him."

"Why are you so eager to defend him?" Potter demanded.

"Why are you so eager to accuse him, even when you have no evidence?" Hermione shot back.

"He's a Death Eater," Potter repeated. "And even if he's not, his father is."

"His father's missing-"

"So Draco is Lucius's replacement," Potter interrupted.

Draco had to hand it to him—so far, he hadn't said something wrong, which Hermione knew but Draco was impressed with her defense.

"My cloak!" Potter suddenly exclaimed as they entered Hogwarts. "Malfoy took the Invisibility Cloak after he broke my nose on the train."

Hermione frowned as Draco internally groaned because he hadn't told her this.

"So you're saying he might have actually been at Hogsmeade."

Draco felt his fake Sickle move. Under the cloak, he pulled it out and read _If you're in your commons, come out._

The group was about a fifty meters from the dungeons. Draco charmed his shoes to make no noise and ran to the dungeons. He turned around the corner, removed and stashed his cloak, and walked back out, his hands in his outer pockets, a grim look covering his face. He glanced at the group that was openly staring at him and went on his way. Once he was sure the group was out of his view, he put the cloak back on and went to his common room.

That was a close one.

 **A/N: I hope you guys are liking this so far. I just wanted to say that I appreciate all you readers and I want to ask you all a favor. Please spread the word about this series because it's not getting as many reads as I had hoped. I really enjoy writing and sharing this with you guys and I'd love it if I could share this with more HP fanfic and Draco lovers out there. Thank you all so much for your endless support!**


	15. 14: Inflation

Not long after he returned to his common room from Hogsmeade, Dumbledore sent Dobby to fetch Draco. The Slytherin sat down across from his headmaster and waited. He scanned Dumbledore's face for any indication of what he was about to say. Of course, Draco already knew it must be about Katie Bell, but he wondered how Dumbledore felt about the whole incident.

At the moment, it seemed like the old man was trying to determine how to phrase what he would say with words that refused to put themselves together. At long last, he opened his mouth and spoke:

"Harry suspects you."

 _That was very vague,_ Draco thought, though he could guess what the unspoken words were.

"I know," he voiced to his headmaster, "and I don't really care. Potter is notorious for believing in something without any base whatsoever. Ergo, I'm not particularly worried."

"Do you remember what I told you in the Leaky Cauldron before you began your first year? We had just found out about your wand—well, _you_ had found out what Ollivander believed about your wand—and I had you read loads of passages about the materials that went into making it?"

Draco thought back all those years, surpassing the best and worst of his time at Hogwarts thus far.

"Something about getting a big head, if I'm not mistaken," Draco said.

"'It is one thing to be proud of yourself, yet another to be arrogant,'" Dumbledore told him, repeating himself from 1991. "Do not inflate your head any more than you already have.' It still applies, does it not?"

Ignoring his questions about how Dumbledore could possibly remember that word for word, Draco defended himself. "I'm not getting arrogant. I just don't believe Potter is my biggest concern at the moment."

"Draco, you must treat all your concerns as if they are equal. A problem, no matter the size, is still a problem." Furrowing his eyebrows, he continued, "You also need to explain what you were thinking during this unfortunate sequence of events, for I know you are far too cautious to not only harm another student, albeit accidentally, but also to arouse suspicion in your school rival."

Internally groaning, Draco started, "I needed to make some sort of failed attempts at killing you so that I wouldn't seem like I wasn't interested in fulfilling the Dark Lord's plans. I didn't think sixth year would be as grueling as it has been with my level of magical knowledge—that's not arrogance, that's just acknowledgement of the truth—but I thought I would have so much more time to figure everything out. Then today arrived and I realized that this might be my only opportunity in a long time to do anything about this mission at all."

"Perhaps you should rest for a few days," Dumbledore suggested. "I shall speak with your professors-"

"No, it's fine," Draco interjected.

"Clearly it is not. You made a mistake in executing what seemed to you like a flawless plan, even though you most likely came up with it this morning. Why don't you just head down to the Quidditch pitch and clear your mind? You will find yourself less prone to aggressive and impulsive behavior."

"Wait, aggressive?" The Gryffindors must have told him. "Alright, but that was a long time ago, and I was able to resolve it without doing anyone harm."

"But I believe that like the curse, your behavior could return any moment, and Lucius agrees."

Draco ears perked up. "You spoke with him recently?"

"I have kept him updated on everything. He is currently doing me a huge favor by supplying me with as much research as he can possibly find on something we believe Voldemort may be using other than Horcruxes. But you need not worry about that now," he added, correctly assuming that Draco was about to question him about the "other" thing.

Without a word, Draco rose from his seat and left for the pitch as Dumbledore had instructed.

Several minutes later, Draco found himself soaring as high as the clouds that were finally beginning to clear away. Snow still covered the ground around the pitch, but the pitch itself had been charmed to keep the sandy ground sandy. No rain could render it dark brown, no snow could render it white. It was just there.

Like all the neutral wizards in the world. They were the ones who either didn't care which side won or were too afraid to take a side. They might have been too ignorant to know who Voldemort even was! But at least they didn't have to play both sides, like Draco did.

As if a few days off would do him any good anyway; he just had more time to waste. He had nearly all the information he needed to fix the cabinet but was delaying that as best he could. There was nothing he could really do to find the Horcruxes. Dumbledore had that taken care of, anyway. He was all caught up on schoolwork and the next Quidditch match wasn't until January.

"I should visit Lucius," Draco said to himself. Or would that be to dangerous?

"Hey, watch it!"

Draco automatically swerved to the right and spun around to see who dared to speak to him like that.

"Bradbury Stevens," he muttered.

The Slytherin Keeper sped back to where Draco was, grinning as if there had never been any issues between the two of them.

"Practicing all by yourself?" Bradbury said.

"Dumbledore is making me," was all Draco said.

"Wow, that bad, huh?"

Draco frowned and said, "No, he just thinks I've exhibited quite an abnormal bit of stress."

"And you don't agree."

"No. Perhaps. I'm not sure."

Bradbury stroked his chin as if he were trying to solve some puzzle. "Well, you are a sixth year. That's got to be difficult, even if you are among the top in your class."

Draco started nodding but then stopped. "What do you mean by 'among?' Am I not the top? There's me, then there's everyone else."

Dumbledore's words about an inflated head suddenly reappeared in his mind.

Bradbury was saying, "Alright, so you're the top. Big whoop. That's not gonna do a shred of rat tails for you now, is it?"

"What are you even saying?"

"I'm saying, maybe Dumbledore's right. You may not know why, I may not know why, the bloody Ministry may not know why. But even as a Slytherin, we've got to admit that the old bugger knows what he's doing."

"Well..." Draco trailed off, unwilling to voice the mistakes Dumbledore had made in the past (at least those Draco knew about). "You're right. Thanks."

With that, he flew back to the ground, ready for his free time. And perhaps it was time to finally speak with his father. But that could definitely wait until Draco had had some rest.

 **A/N: Finally, right?! This chapter may only be a little filler to get some things settled and it's more thinking by Draco (he's done a lot of that during this book, hasn't he?). But I've finished it and here you go! Expect Lucius to return in the next chapter, which should be up tomorrow or the day after. Thanks so much for hanging on, guys! I really appreciated all your love and support. You guys keep me going when the stress comes in strong.**


	16. 15: A Heartfelt Reunion

On the second day of his break from school, Draco slept right through lunch, so he was groggily climbing the stairs leading from the dungeon. Having spent yesterday flying, spellcasting in the Room of Requirement, eating, and sleeping, he was looking forward to seeing his father. Well, if Dumbledore felt like it was time, of course. Or if Draco found a way around that.

Since there wasn't a soul in the Great Hall, Draco decided that he would sit in Dumbledore's chair. Just like last time, Dobby appeared with food without Draco having to go to the kitchen.

"Thank you, Dobby," he told the house-elf.

"Master is always most welcome," Dobby said. But before he could disapparate, Draco stopped him.

"Hey, Dobby, how would you like to come visit my father with me?"

There was a long pause, followed by a gulp. "Dobby visit old Master?" The house-elf started backing up slowly. "No, no, no, that will not go well for Dobby."

"He's different!" Draco insisted. "Before I freed you, you dealt with a Lucius that was under the influence of an Imperius potion. So nothing he did to you was by choice. When he sees you, he'll have to apologize for everything he did."

Dobby still looked unsure so Draco said, "It's fine. You don't have to."

"Dobby wants to make Master Draco proud. Dobby is still very grateful for the freedom."

"Only if you want to."

Dobby snapped his fingers and left the hall. Draco quickly ate and rushed down to Dumbledore's office. He wanted to see Lucius before it was too late in the day.

"I've been expecting you," the headmaster said as Draco entered the office. "You want to see your father."

Draco just nodded.

"Very well, then. I suppose there's no point in me keeping you two apart."

"Has my mother also been in contact with him?" Draco asked.

"No, I am afraid it would have been too dangerous for her. However, if you would like, I can arrange for her to accompany us on our trip."

"I think that would be great. Um, can Dobby come as well?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he gave a slight nod. Within the second, Dobby had apparated into the room.

The headmaster then made a Floo call and the party of three entered Malfoy Manor. Narcissa was awaiting them in her only white robe.

"One can only get to the house in France if he or she is a Malfoy by blood or by marriage," Narcissa told them. "We don't apparate there, but we must use our blood. If we wish to bring guests, the rule is no more than one guest per Malfoy. All of us save for Dobby must take some blood on the tip of their wands. Dobby you need to hold onto one of us."

With that, Narcissa took out her wand and lightly cut the tip of her index finger. Then she touched her wand to the blood. Draco repeated her motions and allowed Dumbledore to take a bit of his blood. Dobby grabbed Draco's free arm.

"On the count of three," Narcissa instructed, "we will perform this movement with our wands." She brandished her wand several times and jabbed it in the air. "At the same time, Draco and I must think the Malfoy motto in Latin and we will all be transported to our destination."

Turning to Draco, Narcissa said, "Ready?"

Draco nodded and closed his eyes, unsure why he was even a tad bit anxious.

"One...two...three!"

A couple seconds later, the four of them were standing in the salon. On the sofa opposite them was none other than the man they were looking for.

"Father," Draco acknowledged.

"May I see it?" Lucius asked, rising.

Draco tried to move forward but found that he couldn't since Dobby had latched onto him and wouldn't let go.

"Dobby, don't worry," Draco assured him. "Just let go." Dobby reluctantly obeyed and inched towards Dumbledore. Draco stepped towards his father and pulled up his left sleeve.

Lucius frowned as his eyes scanned over the mark. He spoke, "I apologize that my actions have caused this."

"It's not your fault," Draco insisted. "You did the right thing. Besides, nothing has happened to me because of this mark except for my assignment, but I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has already informed you."

Lucius gave a slight nod. "We will get you out of this terrible situation I have put you in."

"You didn't-"

Lucius then walked over to Narcissa and embraced her, an odd sight for Draco to see.

"Everything will be alright, as you shall see," Dumbledore whispered to Draco. "Severus and I have been working on a plan. Your father has been helping us as well."

After his parents broke apart, Draco suddenly remembered something.

"Father," he began, "when I vaporize, can Voldemort track where I'm going?"

"Of course not," Lucius said, "otherwise I would be dead. This place may be protected but a Death Eater's powers vaporization to and from anywhere but Azkaban. The Dark Lord was quite young and inexperienced when creating this power so he did not realize his mistake."

"So I need not learn how to apparate?"

"Perhaps you will lose the power to vaporize with the Dark Lord's defeat. But there is too much to be done to spend time learning a skill you do not need."

Draco sighed. "Well, I suppose that's one more thing off my shoulder."

"We had best get to it, then," Dumbledore said. "I am afraid this is not just a family reunion. We have much to discuss."

"First, I believe we should take care of one thing," Narcissa said. "Dobby, if you'll come out from behind the headmaster."

The house-elf peeked his head out, his large watery eyes moving from Narcissa to Draco to Lucius.

"Of course," Lucius realized. "Dobby, we have yet to ask forgiveness for our terrible treatment. I am sure that Draco has explained to you the circumstances under which we mistreated you. Er, are you happy at Hogwarts?"

Dobby fully emerged from behind Dumbledore and nodded his head violently, the tears of joy spilling. He said, "Dobby has never been happier in his life, sir. Dobby gets paid and fed and people like Dobby."

"Well, I'm glad, Dobby," Narcissa said. "We are happy that you are happy."

After the heartfelt apology and forgiveness—during which Draco struggled to not roll his eyes or seem impatient—Lucius led the group to his office.

"So what's so important that we had to meet to discuss it?" Draco asked.

"It's a concept with which I am sure you are more than familiar," Dumbledore told him. "Today, we have come together to talk about the Deathly Hallows."

 **The next chapter is a pretty big one! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the following clue I'm about to give you about what comes. Remember that curse Draco got? Hopefully he does too.**


	17. 16: Return of the Curse

Apparently Lucius suspected that Voldemort was interested in using more than just Horcruxes to prolong his life. Dumbledore had informed the eldest Malfoy about his Horcrux theory over the summer and Lucius said that if Voldemort could sense the destruction of his soul, he would seek another method of protection.

Draco spent every free second he had from his visit with Lucius until the last day of school before the Christmas break discussing the Deathly Hallows with Dumbledore. Of course, he had very little free time as it was, especially after missing three days of school, even though they were excused. For a NEWT student, excuses meant nothing.

Between homework, Quidditch, and the bare necessities of food and sleep, Draco had learned that the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone were as real as the Invisibility Cloak.

"So the stone was in the cursed ring," Draco had realized one day in the headmaster's office.

"Yes, and it is now in my possession to never be used," Dumbledore had tried to assure him.

"You do realize that your desire to use the stone is what put me in my situation."

And because of that, Draco now owned two of the three Hallows. Dumbledore kept the Elder Wand because it was his actual wand.

Draco didn't dare leave either alone for a moment. He always carried the cloak on him and the stone was tucked away with it. He was in the Slytherin commons, hunched over his latest Transfigurations assignment. Having let his work pile up, Draco had been working since classes ended three hours ago, and there he planned to remain for most of the night.

However, things didn't go quite as he had hoped. He remembered Dumbledore's warning about the curse's effects returning as he lost his vision for a moment. When he regained it, he sent his homework to his room with a spell that in turn drained more of his energy than it normally would have. The moment he rose from the sofa, he lost balance and fell back down. He could feel himself losing control of his limbs. Rolling off the couch, he dragged himself to the lamp and used it to pull himself up. Just as he was about to fall again, he vaporized himself into the Infirmary, using what little energy he had left.

Draco found himself at Madam Pomfrey's feet as he blacked out.

* * *

It was not only the last day of the term, but also the night of Slughorn's Christmas party. Hermione had suggested that she and Harry go together but Harry had forgotten and already asked Luna. This left Hermione no choice but to say yes when Cormac McLoser, as Draco called him, asked her to be his date. Regretting the choice ever since she made it, Hermione took a deep breath and got ready. As she left the Gryffindor common room, she wondered what would've happened had she taken Draco to the party instead.

She chuckled as she thought about how Draco would have reacted and sighed as she thought about everyone else's reactions. People could be so prejudiced—she may have known this for years, but seeing Harry so pitted against Draco made Hermione realize how wrong someone's assumptions could be. All she wanted was to tell Harry and Ron everything Draco had told her so that perhaps Draco wasn't evil in her friends' eyes. But with Ron's devotion to his new girlfriend and Harry's vulnerability to Voldemort, she knew that it wasn't a viable option.

 _I wonder what he's doing right now,_ Hermione wondered. She reached into her pocket and took out the fake Sickle, sending, _How's the studying?_ , because lately he seemed more stressed about school than about Voldemort.

By the time she arrived at the party, she still hadn't gotten a response. Hopefully, nothing was wrong.

* * *

Draco woke up on a bed in a barely lit room. He looked around, squinting, and found not a soul in sight. His eyes wandered to the nurse's office, the only source of light, as far as he could see. There was a figure shuffling about.

His hand immediately went to his pockets. Why hadn't he brought the cloak and the stone with him? They could be in the wrong hands! Draco knew he had to get out of there, no matter how weak he probably was. Then again, he must have been fixed by now if Madam Pomprey wasn't at his side.

Draco slipped out of the bed and found himself perfectly capable of walking. He checked to make sure he had everything that had been on his person when he arrived at the Infirmary and vaporized to the dungeons. Ignoring the fact that he felt a little weaker, he entered his room. The cloak and stone had been shoved into his bag earlier that day. Draco took them out and hid them in his robes. He decided to physically walk back to the Infirmary—the exercise would probably do him well. He didn't bother getting the cloak, either, as he presumed no one would be walking the halls at this time.

As he left the common room, he remembered Slughorn's party. Wondering if Hermione had said anything, he pulled out his fake Sickle.

 _How's the studying?,_ it read.

 _Do you need to be rescued?_ Draco sent back.

A response came almost instantly: _Are you ok?_

 _Of course, why wouldn't I be?_ he answered. He turned the corner in the direction of the Potions master's office.

 _You didn't answer for awhile_.

 _I'm fine. I'm coming._

Draco quickly made his way down the hall. Now, to get in without being seen...the cloak! He went to reach for his cloak but felt dizzy all of a sudden. He removed his wand from its holder, but then tumbled to the ground, the wand escaping his grip. It took him some time to get back to his feet but when he rose, he faced none other than Filch the Filth.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

Filch grabbed at Draco, who attempted to run, but found himself incapable of moving. Now in custody and unwilling to exert the energy required to vaporize, Draco allowed the caretaker to drag him into the office.

"Professor Slughorn!" he shouted, interrupting the scene. "I found this one outside trying to sneak in."

"Oh dear, Mister Malfoy," Slughorn said, shaking his head. Draco caught Hermione's eye and reached for his Sickle.

 _I was too weak to fight,_ he sent. He watched Hermione read the message and frown. She looked like she was about to interfere when Snape entered the office and took control of the situation.

"I shall deal with him," he said to Filch and Slughorn. Snape took Draco's arm and as Draco nearly stumbled, Snape held him up, disguising it as a detainment.

Once they were outside, Snape pushed Draco to the wall. "It's back, isn't it?"

"Stop worrying about me," Draco demanded.

"And that failed attempt of yours last month? What do you think the Dark Lord thinks right now?"

"That I'm trying."

"You're not trying, you're being careless," Snape snapped. "I don't know what you were doing just now in Slughorn's office, nor do I wish to know. Just let me help you."

"Is that what you were told? That I need help?" To Draco and Snape, it was clearly Dumbledore that did the telling, but to Harry, eavesdropping 10 feet away, it seemed like Voldemort was doing the telling.

"I'm doing perfectly fine," Draco insisted.

"Clearly you are not. Go back to where you came from." With that, Snape spun on his heel and marched away.

Harry automatically assumed that Snape was talking about some Death Eater meeting instead of the Infirmary and ran back to the party to tell Hermione.

Draco waited until Snape had turned the corner before using the last of his energy to vaporize to the Infirmary once more.


	18. 17: Christmas Eve Miracle

"You owe me quite the explanation."

Draco groaned and opened his eyes. It was his last day at the Infirmary and to his surprise, Hermione was looking down on him with a discontent expression upon her face.

"Who told you I was awake?"

"I've been here awhile," she responded, not losing her tone.

Draco carefully sat up as Hermione took her seat on the chair next to the bed.

"A few more tests, says Madam Pomfrey," Hermione informed him.

"Wonderful." Draco grabbed his water class from the bedside table and took a few sips.

"Well?"

Draco frowned and put his glass down. "Well what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me why you're in here instead of out there?" Hermione pointed at the double doors.

Reluctantly, Draco did tell her just about everything he didn't think she knew.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "When you sent me the message saying you were too weak to fight, I hypothesized that the curse's effects were back. Snape did say they would return, didn't he? Yes, I remember."

"What's today?" Draco suddenly wondered aloud.

"Christmas Eve, Draco," Hermione said softly.

"I've been out for nearly four days?" Four days of winter vacation gone...he had actually planned to start working on finding the cabinet.

"Don't be like that," Hermione told him. "You've got the rest of break AND my help."

Draco shook his head. "No way, I refuse to let you help."

"And who told you that you could choose for me? It's wise to let this discussion end here. I'm helping—whether you like it or not."

"You know what? Good. I might have buckled under the stress." Draco hadn't been randomly aggressive since that day he confessed nearly everything to Hermione and thought that perhaps having a partner in all this could help. "Dumbledore would probably recommend that I don't go it alone anyway."

"Then it's settled. Where do we start?"

As Draco broke his gaze from Hermione's excited eyes and slipped into thought, he realized something: "Malfoy Manor."

"What?" Hermione's face dropped.

"I left all my research books there. I had plans to start over the summer. Hell, I had plans to rescue Sirius but I got sidetracked and—"

"Calm down," Hermione said. "We'll devise a plan to go back and get the books. Only your mother's there, right? Dumbledore will surely help us. There's no need to get worked up over something like this."

"You're right," Draco agreed. But for some reason, he felt unsure.

"As soon as you get released, we'll go to Dumbledore's office," Hermione suggested. "Actually, you might like a shower first.

Draco rolled his eyes and lied back down.

* * *

"Aren't you supposed to be at Weasel's house?" Draco asked as the two of them approached the gargoyle. "Treacle fudge," he spoke to it.

"Has Dumbledore given you all the passwords he intends to use?"

"No, I just guessed and hoped it was right," Draco sarcastically replied. "Your turn."

"I told them that I was focusing on new material for N.E.W.T exams," Hermione explained.

"When that's a year and a half away."

"It's never too early to start."

"I'm guessing that's what you told them." Draco shook his head as they ascended to the headmaster's office. "It's quite the miracle that you've yet to begin."

To their dismay, the office was empty.

"The dinner!" Hermione realized. "It's time for the Christmas dinner."

It was as if the fates were trying to delay their arrival at Malfoy Manor.

"Let's go eat, then," Draco said.

When they reached the Great Hall, it seemed like they were the last ones to get there, with plates set for two more people.

"So kind of you to join us," Dumbledore greeted, raising his glass of pumpkin juice.

The only other people there were Bradbury Stevens, Luna Lovegood, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn.

"It'll be a quiet break, I suppose," said Slughorn. "Although with Mister Malfoy around, we might have some parties crashed.

"I was just walking down the hall when I was hit by a spell of dizziness," Draco lied. "And Filch spun it into a more interesting story. My apologies for the interruption."

"It's quite alright, my boy," Slughorn said. "Happens to the best of us."

The rest of dinner was spent in jovial chatter. Draco learned that Bradbury's parents were at a charity function in China and would be collecting their son from Hogwarts the following day. Madam Pomfrey was also leaving, as she had only stayed behind for Draco. Meanwhile, Xenophilius Lovegood had been working overtime at the Quibbler, which was on the verge of surpassing the Daily Prophet in popularity, even though the two were different types of news outlets.

After what seemed like hours, Hermione and Draco were alone at the table with Dumbledore, the other three claiming retirement to their rooms.

"There's some crucial information in these books," Draco was saying. "I have to go back for them now."

"I'm sorry to inform you that Malfoy Manor is under seizure," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Under seizure? What do you mean?"

"The Death Eaters discovered that we visited Lucius, or rather, that your mother visited Lucius."

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Voldemort had long ago placed Malfoy Manor under some detection charms, including a direct signal to him if the house was empty."

"But surely Mother's gone out before," Draco said.

"Actually, she hasn't. The moment she returned from the house in France, they questioned her."

Draco combed his fingers through his hair. "We should have returned with her." He recalled the Floo Lucius permitted Draco, Dumbledore, and Dobby to use to return directly back to Hogwarts after Dumbledore admitted he wasn't a fan of elf travel. Although no one could enter the house without performing the blood ritual, they could certainly leave.

Hermione, clearly thinking everything through, asked Dumbledore how he knew about this.

"Narcissa and Lucius both excel in the art of wandless magic. She found a way to send me a message about her whereabouts and all the details we needed to know. Unfortunately, her magic can't help her get out."

"And why hadn't you told me this before?" Draco demanded. "We can go rescue her."

"Precisely the problem," Dumbledore said. "Your mother requested me not to tell you. She said she was being kept until Lucius emerged, which he won't as he has no idea what has happened and the Death Eaters can't send him a message. Narcissa also said they attempted to use her as leverage to get him to come out but they can't do that without Narcissa's help."

"But you said she told you where she was. Why can't we help her?"

"Because they'll know it was you, Draco," Hermione realized. "They know Dumbledore can't leave the school when he and Slughorn are the only professors here—which I'm sure they know. And what business would anyone else have rescuing your mother?"

Draco had to admit they all had a point.

"Fine. But the moment you learn something, I implore that you tell me, Professor."

"Certainly," Dumbledore agreed. "Now off to bed, you two. It's nearly nine. My, how time flies by during a splendid feast.

Draco watched the Headmaster get up and leave the Great Hall.

"Good night, Draco," Hermione said.

"Where do you think you're going?" Draco asked.

"To bed, like Dumbledore suggested."

"I suppose I'm on my own, then," he said.

"On your own?" Hermione frowned and then her eyes widened. "You're not thinking of going to Malfoy Manor, are you?"

Draco didn't say a word.

"You must be out of your damn mind!"

"Perhaps," was all he said. "Perhaps the problem is going alone."

"Well, how do you propose we do this? Clearly Dumbledore is up there right now."

"That's why we need a plan," came a voice.

Draco and Hermione turned around. From the shadows emerged Luna.

"If you'll both accompany me to the library, I believe we can start there."

Draco and Hermione merely looked at each other and shrugged before following the Ravenclaw out of the hall.


	19. 18: Christmas Day Miracle

Draco, Hermione, and Luna were seated around a table in the library. They had made a plan and decided to wait until midnight to execute it. Since the only way to access the Malfoy Manor Floo from Hogwarts was through the Headmaster's Floo, Draco suggested that they wait until Dumbledore was probably asleep.

"What if Dumbledore suspects that you'll go to rescue your mother?" Hermione asked.

Luna said, "Surely he knows. Perhaps he will let us go and wait in the wings to help."

"Or he might try to keep us from going," Draco said. "Whatever the case, I'm going."

"How Gryffindor of you," Hermione joked. But Draco was in no mood for joking. All he could think of was how careless he had been. Hermione clearly sensed this because she then said, "Don't for a second blame yourself."

"Why not? Tell me why it's not my fault."

"You know what? Let's say it _is_ your fault. Is jumping into this rescue mission the best way to fix this? For all we know, it could be a trap. Either they'll catch you, or they'll know who the traitor is."

Before Draco could respond, the clock struck twelve.

"We've already spent time making a plan," Draco said. "It's too late to rethink this whole situation because if we do decide that this is the best option, by then it will be too late."

The trio rose from their seats and made their way out of the library as silently as possible.

"I've got the Invisibility Cloak but I expect that it will be too small to hide all three of us," Draco realized. They approached the gargoyle.

"Treacle fudge," Draco spoke. Turning to the girls, he said, "If we move in such a configuration that I am directly behind you two the entire time after using the Disillusionment Charm, they won't be able to see me move."

"Uh, Draco?" Hermione caught his attention. She pointed behind him. The gargoyle hadn't moved.

"Damn!" Draco cursed. "Of course he changed the password."

"Didn't Dumbledore give you all the passwords in advance?" Hermione asked.

Pulling out his wand, Draco said, "They're all stored in here. I can bring up a list and we can try them all."

"I don't believe Dumbledore would have picked a password from that list if he really wanted to keep you out of his office," Luna said.

"I know," Draco said, "but it's worth a try."

"Perhaps it would be better to try passwords not on that list," Hermione suggested.

"Hermione, do you realize how many candies and sweets there are in the wizarding world?"

"We'll just have to try."

Sighing, Draco waved his wand and displayed the list of passwords on the wall. They scanned the list together.

"Charm choc," Hermione said to the gargoyle when didn't see it on the list. However, the statue didn't budge.

Next, they tried Dolly Mixtures, Canary Cream, Glacial Snow Flakes, Rock Cake, Jelly Slug and Jelly Skull.

"None of these are working," Hermione groaned.

What if it wasn't a candy? Perhaps Dumbledore knew they would try this and had chosen another password. Was Dumbledore the kind of wizard to choose a password meaningful to him so he wouldn't forget or a random word so that others could never guess?

Only one thing came to Draco's mind as a potential password and it certainly didn't hurt to try it.

"Arianna," Draco spoke to the gargoyle.

"Who's tha—" Hermione cut herself off when the gargoyle shifted and spiraled away to expose the staircase.

Draco shook his head at Dumbledore's carelessness...unless Dumbledore wanted them to go but wished to delay them. He supposed he'd never know his headmaster's true intentions so he followed his friends up the stairs.

By the time they reached the office, it had been ten minutes since they had left the library.

"I'll have you know," Draco said, grabbing the Floo powder from atop the fireplace, "Flooing is my least favorite form of transportation."

"What about apparating?" Hermione said. "I hear it feels bloody awful."

"Nothing compares to the terror of the Floo," Draco defended. "Ready? Hermione, take the cloak and be _very careful_. There might be Death Eaters in the room and if there are, they will surely see the Floo's fire. Once you get through, send me a message via the sickle." She would know what to do and what to send. "Also, use the spell _Muffliato_ when you get there. It ensures that people around you won't be able to hear you. Then wait in front of the fireplace with the cloak ready to hide Luna when she comes through."

"I've never heard of that before," Hermione said.

"There are loads left to learn in the world of magic," Draco told her. "Now go."

Luna and Draco stepped back and let Hermione wrap the cloak around herself. They watched as the green powder hit the ground and heard a "Malfoy Manor!" ring out.

Moments passed in silence and Draco finally felt the warmth in his pocket to signal an incoming message.

 _Coast clear_ , he read.

"Alright, Luna, your turn."

The Ravenclaw copied Hermione and was soon gone. Finally, Draco stepped through, crossing his fingers that he wouldn't end up on the floor like he always did after Flooing.

He successfully made it through to the other side. There wasn't a soul in the room other than Hermione and Luna, who had half covered themselves with the cloak.

"When I Disillusion myself," Draco began, "you won't be able to see me just as much as I won't be able to see you with or without the charm. That being said, communication is key so I'll hold onto the back of the cloak and we'll walk lightly."

Hermione made a motion that signaled that she couldn't hear. Draco undid the Muffliato charm and repeated what he said before replacing the charm, only this time around all three of them.

"Before we leave," Draco said, "was there really no one in the room before we came here?"

"Actually," Hermione said, "I stunned a few Death Eaters that were here and covered them with the Disillusionment charm so when you put on the charm, you can see them. I was just about to tell you that you should probably erase their memories."

Draco sighed. "It's a miracle you survived." He then charmed himself to become invisible and saw the Death Eaters with their masks on, shoved into the corner of the room. He quickly erased the part of their memories that had Hermione (who had dropped the cloak in an effort to stun them all). Watching the memories, he also realized how skilled Hermione had become and made a mental note to commend her later.

He returned to the area where he was standing before, hoping the girls hadn't moved. Reaching out, he felt the silvery material and held on.

"Okay," Draco said, "follow my instructions. We're going to the dungeons."


	20. 19: The 2nd Most Complicated Rescue Ever

Fortunately, the trio hadn't encountered anyone on the way to the dungeons. Despite this, Draco took his time performing the lock-opening ritual and they moved as slowly as possible into the dimly lit room. Three figures in the distance sat quietly in their cells.

"Take off the cloak," Draco instructed. As the girls complied, he removed his disillusionment charm.

They rushed to the prisoners and saw them all worn out, leaning against the wall.

"Mother!" Draco called.

Narcissa seemed to be just as knocked out as her dungeon mates.

"Rennervate," Hermione said pointing at Draco's mother while Draco did the same with Sirius. Since Luna hadn't learnt the spell, Draco repeated it on Ollivander.

"Draco?" Narcissa frowned. "I warned Dumbledore not to send you here."

"And he tried to keep us from coming," Draco said.

"He did just as he was supposed to," Sirius chimed in. "Has anyone seen you?"

"Yes," Hermione admitted, "but Draco erased their memories."

Ollivander looked quite impressed. "With your lineage, I'd expect as much," he said. Over the summer, Draco had finally admitted to being Merlin's heir.

Sirius said, "I always knew you'd amount to a lot. You too, Hermione." Turning to Luna, he said, "You wouldn't happen to be the daughter of Xenophilius?"

Luna simply nodded.

Sirius seemed like he'd just gotten back a sparkle in his eye he'd been missing all his life. "Old Xeno and me'll have to catch up, once I get out of here. Speaking of..." he gestured to the cells.

"Right," Draco said. "Who has the keys?"

"Why don't we just break them?" Hermione wondered aloud, fearing that they would be caught if they didn't hurry.

As if reading Draco and Narcissa's minds, which she probably did, Luna answered, "The cells were made to be indestructible, of course. Especially to hold up against wandless witches and wizards."

"I'm afraid the key resides with one of the two guards, Crabbe and Goyle Sr.," Narcissa said.

"Where can we find them?" Draco demanded. "Are they in the manor?"

"Actually," Luna said, "they're right behind us."

The trio spun around to see the two Death Eaters bounding down the stairs to the dungeons, wands outstretched.

"Walk in the Forbidden Forest, this is," Draco muttered as he flung a stunning curse at each Crabbe and Goyle.

Running over to them, Draco found the key lying unprotected in Crabbe Sr's pocket. He tossed the key to Hermione and began erasing the Death Eaters' memories.

Narcissa told Hermione, "This key is enchanted to change its mold. You have to start from the first cell and unlock it, continuing to the final cell, before you lock them all again in the same order."

The Gryffindor obeyed and worked her way through the five cells, freeing the prisoners, before taking the time to lock them all again. Luna led the prisoners to the door of the dungeons.

"Perhaps we should try to make it look like an escape," Luna suggested.

Narcissa shook her head. "The Dark Lord and his followers are aware that these cells were built with extreme care—absolutely no one could escape without outside help."

"They'll know it was Draco," Hermione sighed.

"They might believe it was Dumbledore," said Draco.

"Albus would never leave the school alone for anything, much less to rescue us," Sirius claimed.

"That's not true," Draco interjected. "He's left on several occasions. Well, at least one that I know of for sure when he left no one in charge."

"Still," said Hermione, "there's the unbelievable part where Dumbledore would take the time to do this."

"Perhaps Dumbledore wouldn't take the time," Luna started, "but I'm sure Harry would try to rescue Sirius."

"Luna, you're a genius!" Draco exclaimed, not noticing a wave of jealousy pass over Hermione's face. "Gryffindor's Golden Trio was recruited for this assignment by Dumbledore, who received a message from Sirius, not my mother, about his whereabouts."

"And if they saw Narcissa and Ollivander trapped here with me," Sirius realized, "they would have to help."

"We just need some trinket of one of yours to be planted here," Draco said.

"Sorry to burst the bubble," Narcissa said, "but tonight my sister and Fenrir went on another destruction spree, and the Weasleys' home was on that list."

"They destroyed the Burrow?!" Hermione gasped.

"I'm sure they will be fine," Narcissa assured her, "but they will never believe that Harry Potter and his friends left soon after to come for us."

"No, it's possible," Draco said, "because first of all, they didn't see Hermione there for sure, since she's been here. Hermione and Dumbledore could have sent Potter and Weasley a message to report to Hogwarts or Dumbledore could have found some way to meet with them."

Ollivander finally spoke. "It's good that we are thinking this through, but I'm afraid we haven't got much time to spare. So whatever needs to be done..." he took a deep breath "...needs to be done now."

"He's right," Hermione said. "Let's move." She reached into her robe and pulled out a ring. "This is Harry's," she told Draco. "It slipped off his finger during Slughorn's party while he was telling me about your conversation with Snape. I never had the chance to return it since I went to the hospital after Harry stormed away." She blushed, realizing how her actions made her sound.

"Great, just place it next to Sirius's cell," Draco replied. "What exactly did Potter tell you?"

"Our wands?" Ollivander reminded them.

"Crabbe and Goyle have them," Sirius remembered and went back to the Death Eaters.

Hermione answered Draco, "He still believes that you're a Death Eater and now he's having suspicions that you work for Voldemort. He said you told Snape you didn't need help and that Snape told you to return to the Death Eater meeting."

Draco sighed and tutted. "Poor Potter. Always having to assume since he's not kept in the loop."

Hermione giggled as Draco continued, "Snape and I were talking about Dumbledore, not Voldemort, and returning to the Infirmary, not a meeting."

"I gathered as much," Hermione said. "You do have to be careful about using the pronoun game, though."

"Well, I'm glad Potter thinks what he thinks. Snape told me he failed to learn Occlumency, so giving him the information about whose side I'm really on isn't a benefit."

Hermione picked up the Invisibility Cloak and they followed everyone out of the dungeons.

"Doesn't it require special knowledge to open the door to the dungeon?" Sirius wondered finally said as they carefully made their way towards their only exit out of Malfoy Manor.

Narcissa responded, "Yes, which is why they can assume I told you to include a message from me to Dumbledore about how to open it."

When they approached the room, Narcissa took her wand and began the ritual to get to the French house.

"How did Father get there after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries?" Draco asked.

"He came back here first," Narcissa explained. "Before you go blaming yourself, he had ample time to perform the ritual and get himself out of here. And no, you couldn't have helped."

Draco rolled his eyes as his mother correctly predicted his thoughts.

"Where will Sirius and Ollivander go?" Luna asked.

"The Hog's Head," Sirius said. "Albus's brother is in charge and I am sure he will help us hide."

"Then you need the Invisibility Cloak," Draco said, gesturing to Hermione.

"I can become a dog," Sirius offered, handing the cloak to Ollivander.

"Alright, you two go first," Draco instructed. "This is the most complicated rescue ever."

"No way," Sirius said. "Nothing close to you saving me with yourself nearly three years ago."

As Draco assisted the two men, Narcissa pulled Hermione aside. "So how long have you fancied my son?"

Hermione's jaw dropped. "How did you-"

"It's quite obvious, dear," the witch answered with a smile. "I am glad you were able to look past the pureblood Slytherin exterior and really get to know him. He could use a companion like yourself."

Nearly at a loss for words, Hermione managed to utter, "He knows."

Narcissa frowned. "And he hasn't said or done anything?" She sighed. "Once I get to the French house, I'll have to write him a letter explaining where he has gone wrong. I wonder if he has realized that girls aren't atrocious creatures."

Hermione laughed, eliciting a head turn from Draco, having successfully sent Sirius and Ollivander through the portal.

"Mother, now is not the time for embarrassing childhood stories," he groaned.

"Although he has clearly made friends with you and Xenophilius's daughter," Narcissa whispered to Hermione. "Perhaps my son stands a chance in this world."

Suddenly, they heard the _click clack, click clack_ of a very familiar pair of boots.

"It's my sister!" Narcissa whisper-yelled to Draco, Hermione, and Luna.

Quickly, Draco performed the Disillusionment Charm on Luna and held onto her arm. He then performed it on himself. Finally, he raised his wand towards Hermione when his deadly aunt appeared.

Draco didn't dare to move or breathe, as he knew Luna and his reputation as a Death Eater were at risk. But he couldn't just leave Hermione. The Gryffindor had raised her wand.

Narcissa glared as her sister cackled.

"Oh, dear, how is it possible that the only daughter our mother properly raised was me?" Bellatrix shrieked like a hyena. Behind her appeared Fenrir Greyback. He approached Hermione with caution.

Raising his own wand at Hermione, Fenrir stepped closer and Hermione non-verbally disarmed him. At the same time, Bellatrix disarmed Hermione and to Draco's surprise, Narcissa used her free hand to wandlessly throw Bellatrix across the room.

Feeling like it was the battle at the end of last year again, Draco stood helplessly with Luna, knowing that even a slight movement would tip the Death Eaters off about his and Luna's whereabouts.

"Narcissa, you have to leave," Hermione insisted.

"I won't do that," the stubborn Malfoy matron shot back. "Look out!"

When Hermione had turned to warn Narcissa, Fenrir had leapt for the Gryffindor.

"NO!" Draco wanted to yell, but he kept his mouth shut, hoping that Hermione would somehow wriggle her way out of this one.

Bellatrix regained the three wands on the floor and used them to launch a triple wand attack on Narcissa as Fenrir vaporized away with Hermione.

Narcissa fought back with one hand to the best of her abilities but Draco could tell she was having trouble keeping up. In a split second, his mother used all her power to cast Bellatrix aside and complete the ritual, disappearing on the spot.

Bellatrix, however, didn't seem like she was finished. "I'll find you Cissy," she breathed out. "I'll make you rue the day you chose the wrong side!"

With that, she vaporized into the air.

Luna entered the Floo, aware that there was another person who needed to be rescued, and shouted her destination.

Draco took one last look at the spot where Hermione was last standing, feeling an emptiness inside. Perhaps he did have a thing for her after all. But that didn't change the fact that someone on the team was gone, and it was absolutely his fault. And he would do anything to fix it.

 **A/N: Long chapter there, eh? Hope you enjoyed it! So Hermione's been taken, and I guess that's what it took for Draco's feelings to surface. OR maybe he just thinks he likes her—the emptiness he was feeling could be from his failure (in his mind). Well, you'll just have to hang on til the next chapter.**


	21. 20: Troubling Thoughts

"It is important to remain calm."

Draco was pacing back and forth in Dumbledore's office. Upon returning, Draco and Luna had found the headmaster waiting in the office. Apparently he'd had a feeling that something wasn't right. The two students had collaboratively explained the problem to Dumbledore.

The Slytherin sixth year was as calm as he could be in his situation—his cruel, murderous aunt and a lustful, disgusting werewolf were currently in possession of the only person who knew everything Draco had been through. She had been there for him when no one else would or could listen. Had he developed feelings for her? Had the Slytherin prince, heir of Merlin and all that the Malfoys owned, finally let down his guard and felt an emotion other than frustration or helplessness?

"We'll find her," Luna tried to assure him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"And how do we do that?" he snapped. Immediately regretting his tone, he apologized. "We have no clue where Greyback could have taken her."

Suddenly, he realized aloud, "But I do know that Bellatrix knew where to vaporize to." He turned to Dumbledore. "They must have set up some sort of headquarters or hostage location prior to seizing Malfoy Manor, but where could that possibly be?"

The door opened and in came Professor Snape.

"Thank Merlin," Draco breathed. "Surely you must know where they're keeping her!"

"Hold your horse, Malfoy," Snape drawled, "I've only been summoned without a story."

"Mister Malfoy here," Dumbledore began explaining, "accompanied by Misses Granger and Lovegood, sought to save his mother at Malfoy Manor. They were able to save the three prisoners, but Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback captured Miss Granger. I would assume that they believe that she was helped by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley."

"I'm afraid the werewolf and his accomplice have their own little torture ring somewhere only the Dark Lord can go," Snape said. "He told them it was for a job well done, but I believe he wants them out of the way."

Draco frowned. "Voldemort wants his own Death Eaters out of the way? Not to mention his favorites."

"I'm sure you are well aware of how bloodthirsty those two are. The Dark Lord intends to keep them occupied while he prepares to assemble his forces for not only the end of the year, but for the war that will follow. Not to mention," Snape added, mocking Draco's last sentence, "that he needs to keep his two prized followers as sharp and hungry as ever."

Draco didn't follow Voldemort's logic, and this only worried him more.

"Then how should we go about finding Hermione?"

" _You_ will contribute by going back to your dormitories and resting," Dumbledore commanded. "And Miss Lovegood as well." Before Draco could protest, the headmaster continued, "There is no doubt that your trip to Malfoy Manor has been taxing, not to mention that it is the middle of the night."

"I've been out for four days!" Draco exclaimed.

"Because of your curse, if you recall correctly. It is best not to put too much stress on the body."

Draco groaned. "Do you at least know when the curse is supposed to strike next?"

"I would presume in about a month," Snape told him, "but perhaps it will return sooner due to you disinterest in obeying those who know best."

Accepting that at the moment there was nothing he could do, Draco sighed and left the office. Luna followed him.

"Hermione is incredibly smart," Luna said. "Surely she will figure something out."

Draco didn't meet her eyes. "She's quite knowledgeable and resourceful. But we're talking about Death Eaters, and not just any Death Eaters. We're talking about the half-man who stripped Remus Lupin of a normal life and the witch who destroyed the Longbottoms' minds. The only things keeping her safe is that she is technically a pureblood and that they think Potter and Weasley will try to rescue her."

"Realism is useful," Luna began philosophically, "but optimism can fuel the path to the most ideal realism."

Ignoring the paradox, Draco bid the Ravenclaw good night and proceeded down to the dungeons.

As Draco changed into his pajamas and settled into his bed, he remembered that he actually could communicate with Hermione in a non-risky way. Why hadn't he thought of it before? He reached for his robe, lying on the floor, and dug through a pocket, finally pulling out the fake Sickle. Unfortunately, no messages had come through. Either she hadn't had the opportunity to contact him, or had forgotten about it during all the trauma.

 _Tell me you're fine,_ Draco sent, hoping that Hermione carried the coin on her like he did and that she would answer soon to assure him that she was safe. Just then he realized that Hermione had long ago charmed the coin to act as an alarm in case of an emergency. What if she was still with the Death Eaters and they found out? Even worse, what if they made her empty out her pockets to ensure that she was unarmed and helpless? Then Draco would have no way of contacting her.

 _Deep breath, Draco_ , he thought to himself. He need to calm down. He wondered if he would act like this if it were Luna who had been taken rather than Hermione.

 _You_ are _closer to Hermione than to Luna,_ a voice in his head said. _It makes sense to feel this hopeless._

 _Maybe you've spent so much time with her that you feel the same way about her that she feels about you,_ said another.

Draco waved that thought out of his head. He was Draco Malfoy, Slytherin genius, heir of Merlin, He wasn't supposed to feel anything for anyone, much less for a girl. Even the most clever one he'd ever met.

Not wanting to give the subject more thought, he forced himself to focus on staying awake by mentally planning his next steps if Hermione didn't answer. Although he tried his best, his eyes soon gave way to the darkness. Draco was fast asleep by the time the fake Sickle buzzed with a new message.


	22. 21: What Needs To Be Done

When Draco awoke on Christmas morning, or rather Christmas afternoon, he had quite the headache. The only thought on his mind was where Hermione could possibly be. What if he could have saved her? Moving with a Disillusionment charm on your person would give you away but it wouldn't give away who you were. Together, Draco, Hermione, Luna, and Narcissa surely could have handled a werewolf and a psychotic killer. Why hadn't he been thinking straight?

 _Stop beating on yourself,_ he thought. Perhaps he did the right thing. Surely Bellatrix was smart enough to know that Potter couldn't perform a Disillusionment charm and even if Hermione could, she wouldn't be spaced as far away from Luna and himself as she was. And Bellatrix was most likely aware that no one in the Golden Trio for perform landless magic.

Nearly smacking himself for overthinking the whole situation—what was done was indeed done—he quickly got dressed and headed to the common room when he remembered the fake Sickle.

To his relief, there was a message awaiting him: _Of course. Are you?_

Draco gaped. She had the nerve to ask if _he_ was okay when _she_ was the one who had been kidnapped.

 _Where are you?_ he sent, rushing out of his room and out of the dungeons.

 _Don't know this cell,_ came the instant reply.

 _What do you see?_ he shot back.

 _It's completely dark._

He frowned. _Then how are you reading this?_

 _A tiny crack in the stone and daylight._

So wherever she was, it was a building made partly by stone that allowed sunlight through the dungeons or cells, which must have been above ground.

 _I'll come for you soon,_ Draco messaged.

 _I forgot to buy you a bday present._

Well, that was an odd thing to think about.

 _I did too._

 _What do you want for the big 17?_ she asked.

 _No deaths, especially not yours._

 _I'll try my best_. Draco could imagine her chuckling.

 _I'm going to Dumbledore._

 _I'm sorry._

That confused Draco to no extent. _Sorry? For what?_

Hermione didn't answer. Draco waited several minutes but she said nothing. Had she been taken again? He supposed he would wait to hear from her soon but at the moment he needed to inform Dumbledore of his predictions.

Meanwhile in the dungeons of Hermione's captors' new prison, Bellatrix Lestrange approached the sixth year Gryffindor, shining a light.

"I brought your wand back," the older witch cackled as she presented two halves of the whole.

"Your lot will never win!" Hermione spat.

"I'm sure your friends have noticed you're missing by now, especially since two of them were with you last night."

"They'll have Dumbledore look everywhere for me."

"Unfortunately, that won't work." Bellatrix pouted. "You see, this spit of land isn't on any map. It was created by the Dark Lord to provide me, his most faithful servant, with somewhere to practice various, er, interrogation techniques."

"So you admit you're his servant?" Hermione said boldly. "You, a pureblood, at the beck and call of a half blood? How can you—"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Bellatrix screeched. "I serve my master because he is the rightful lord. He has mastered the dark arts better than anyone in the entire Wizarding World. He has done everything to rid himself of the unworthy Muggle scum in his blood."

"He can't just get rid of that! Your blood is your blood."

"The Dark Lord has a new body."

"That doesn't change who he is. He still had to have blood in order to survive this long. How would you know if he didn't?"

Judging by the silence, Bellatrix seemed at a loss for words so Hermione continued, "Not to mention, his name is still Tom Marvolo Riddle, which is an anagram for I am Lord Voldemort. Even his new name is derived from his part Muggle name. And Dark Lord or not, he can't just create some land. I'll bet he murdered whoever lived here and gave this place to you."

Finally regaining her confidence, Bellatrix screamed, "You think you know everything, you worthless squib-born?! Crucio!"

Hermione tried to grit her teeth as the pain overcame her, but she couldn't help but let her voice echo what her body felt.

When Bellatrix was done, she stormed out of the dark dungeons.

Hermione knew what needed to be done. Quite some time ago, she had learned a bit of wandless magic that she thought might be useful should she ever get captured. Not wanting to let the Death Eaters know what she could do, she had refrained from using that magic upon being captured. But she had taught herself something even more important than stunning or disarming: she could put herself into a coma and let her mind be impenetrable to anyone she deemed unworthy to see her memories and thoughts.

In other words, she hoped Draco would find her because when he did, he would be the only one who could search her mind for the right spell to wake her up.

They boy whose help was required sat in the Hogwarts headmaster's office.

"I'm afraid this doesn't narrow down our search," Dumbledore was telling Draco. "Plenty of buildings are part stone."

"They could be torturing her as we speak!" Draco exclaimed. "There must be something we can do."

"I have a suggestion. Begin work on the cabinet."

"Snape told you about—of course he did." Draco sighed when he remembered the first reason for which he needed to go to Malfoy Manor. "All my research books are in my room back home."

"I shall have Fawkes acquire them for you," the old man simply told him. "Go eat some breakfast and when you return to the dormitories, you will find what you need."

Draco nodded and rose without further question. Perhaps he would focus on figuring out his plans for the end of the year to distract himself from Hermione while she was gone. At breakfast, he and Luna ate together in silence.

All of a sudden, Draco could barely see the croissant in his hand.

"Something's wrong," Luna said to herself as she watched Draco blink several times. Just as she was about to reach out to nudge him, he passed out and slipped from the table.

"Wingardium leviosa!" Luna raised the Slytherin into the air and floated him all the way to Dumbledore's office.

"Arianna," she spoke, hoping the headmaster hadn't had the time to change the password. Luckily, she gargoyle spun. She levitated Draco up to the office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," came Dumbledore's voice.

Luna entered and carefully set Draco down on the rug. "He just passed out during breakfast."

Dumbledore had risen and walked to where Luna was standing. "I'll take him to the Infirmary. Retrieve Severus and bring him there."

Luna ran off the the dungeons while Dumbledore transported himself and Draco to Madam Pomfrey...only the nurse wasn't there because Dumbledore had sent her home for the winter. Laying Draco down on the closest bed, he brandished his wand and spoke a few incantations.

Moments later, Snape strode in through the doors, Luna a bit behind him.

"The curse?" Snape said.

"I don't think we can slow it down again. There is only one way to keep him alive."

Snape shook his head. "You can't possibly suggest—"

"By the end of this year," Dumbledore interrupted, turning to face the Defense professor, "I must die, whether it be at the hands of Draco or you. I'd very much prefer that a sixteen year old boy keep his soul pure so you'll have to kill me anyway."

"But—"

"And it would be best if you knew you were putting me out of my misery. You must do what needs to be done."

Dumbledore wanted Snape to transfer the curse from Draco's body to Dumbledore's body, a process that would surely cause a great deal of pain to both parties. But it was the only way to ensure that Draco did not die, especially since it would be Dumbledore's fault, and he _could not_ have another death on his conscience. Besides, it was best for everyone, since the headmaster was to die anyway. If he didn't die, Snape would be bound to death by the Unbreakable Vow, and Draco would be killed by his false master.

This time, a sacrifice wouldn't be made for the greater good, but rather because it was the anticipated result to a long, hard life.


	23. 22: To Find the Cabinet

Once more, Draco awoke in the Infirmary. It was beginning to become a bit tedious.

"Happy Christmas!"

Groaning, Draco sat up to see Luna at the foot of his bed.

"Dumbledore says it was the curse," Luna said. "He would also like you to know that your books have arrived."

"Thanks, Luna," Draco managed before coughing for several seconds straight. He reached for the cup on the table beside him and brought it to his lips.

"So what's this cabinet you're working on?" Luna asked. "Dumbledore said I might be of some service."

Draco put the cup down and said, "You help would be great. Why don't I meet you in the library in five minutes?"

"Alright then."

As Luna walked away, Draco got out of the bed and reached for his wand. It was still where he'd put it: in the wand holder Hermione had made him the previous year. She'd be at his side right now, demanding that he refrain from magic so soon after another curse attack.

His hand moved to where the fake Sickle was, just as cold and still as it had been that morning.

Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts, he marched out of the Infirmary and made for the dungeons.

Five minutes later, he was seated next to Luna in the library, _A Comprehensive Guide to Dark Objects_ open to a familiar page.

"As you can see," Draco was saying, "there's a cabinet in Borgin & Burkes." He pushed the book aside and opened _Secrets of Dark Objects: Vanishing Cabinets_. "This book contain everything I need to find and fix the twin cabinet, should it need fixing."

"Roger Bowtruckle," Luna read. "What about him?"

"He's the only wizard alive who knows where the last Vanishing Cabinet is located," Draco explained. "I've got another book here that will might tell us where he grew up."

"No need for that," Luna told him. "Roger Bowtruckle is a good friend of my father's. I'll write to him."

"Don't tell him—"

"Roger Bowtruckle might have some insight on a research topic for school."

Draco grinned. Things were finally working out for him. With luck, he'd have the cabinet and Hermione at Hogwarts as soon as possible and then he could try to relax.

Two days later, an owl flew in from Xenophilius Lovegood. He had written to Roger to seek permission, which was granted, and told them to arrange transportation with Dumbledore, to whom Mr. Lovegood had sent details.

Draco wasn't glad that he had to use the Floo again, but it did get them to the Bowtruckles' mansion of a home. Upon arrival, they were greeted by an aging man, most likely in his 60s.

"Luna, good to see you again!" he exclaimed. "My, how you've grown. The last time I saw you, you were still hiding behind your mother's skirts." His face suddenly grew sullen. "So sorry about what happened to her."

"It's been quite a long time since then," Luna replied, her signature dreamy expression not faltering.

Roger then turned to Draco. "And who might this be?" Frowning, he realized, "You're a Malfoy, aren't you? Spitting image of your father. I saw his face in the Daily Prophet, saying he'd escaped the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. What are you doing associating with the Lovegoods?"

"I beg your pardon, sir," Draco began calmly, "but we're not here to discuss my allegiances. In fact, we'd prefer to be shown to your sitting room so we can ask you something of the utmost importance."

"And why do you believe you have that right? What makes you think I trust you not to kill me?"

"Because I'm saving my first kill for someone special so you'll be safe for now."

Luna said, "You trust my father, who trusts me, and I trust Draco, so you must trust him as well."

Not entirely convinced, Roger reluctantly said, "All right, then. As you wish."

He took them into a cozy looking room with white sofas and olive green walls. Motioning to two arm chairs seated across from each other, separated by a small table, he said, "Please sit." He himself sat on the third side of the table. "What is it you would like to know? I was told it was research for school."

Draco said, "We've come to learn that you're only one who knows where the last Vanishing Cabinet is."

Roger's eyes furrowed even deeper as he voiced, "What need does a student have for a Vanishing Cabinet?"

"Research, as we've told you," Draco told him, exasperated.

"There are books for that."

"We're interested in some field research—experience, practice, that sort of thing."

Roger's eyes moved to Luna. "Are you entirely sure about that?"

"Please, sir," Luna said, "it's completely educational, I assure you. Dumbledore himself gave us permission."

"Well," Roger sighed, "I'm afraid you've wasted your time coming here."

Draco stood up. "So you're not going to tell us."

Roger shook his head. "It's at Hogwarts, dear boy. Had you don a bit of poking around, you wouldn't have needed to come here."

"Where in Hogwarts?" Luna prompted.

"It's the room where things are hidden. But you can't find it just by walking about the school. You need to wish for it to appear to you."

"It's in the Room of Requirement?" Draco realized aloud.

Roger merely nodded.

"You've been quite helpful," Draco assured him. He pondered erasing the old man's memory of their interaction, but he figured that the only person who would want to know would be fine with Draco's actions. Besides, the Dark Lord didn't have time to hunt down descendants of famous wizards for no reason.

"We'll see ourselves out," Luna added.

"Give my regards to your father," Roger called as the two students left the room.

As soon as they got back to Hogwarts, Draco stumbled out of the fireplace and ran to the door.

"Find what you need?" Dumbledore asked, not looking up from whatever he was doing.

"We did, Headmaster," Luna said as she followed Draco at a slower pace.

She and the Slytherin went all the way up to where Dumbledore's Army had held meetings the previous year. Draco paced in front of the wall three times, mentally chanting, _I need the room where things are hidden. I need the room where things are hidden. I need the room where things are hidden._

The familiar door appeared in front of them and they entered. It was the most cluttered place Draco had ever seen. Piles and piles of junk and forgotten objects scattered the room, some stacked several meters high, and covered nearly every inch of the floor.

A large structure towards the center of the room, but closer to the front, caught Draco's eye. He cautiously stepped through the mess and approached it. There was a large thick sheet covering something. Draco gave the sheet one tug and it flew off to reveal something that looked exactly like the cabinet he'd seen at Borgin & Burkes.

"We have our prize," he whispered, gazing up at it. Brushing his fingers over the sleek door, he spun to face Luna.

"We'll return here tomorrow," he told her. "It shouldn't be terribly difficult to make it work, and even if it's a problematic cabinet, I've got the right book to help us."

 _Voldemort,_ he thought, _I'm going to be ready for you_.


	24. 23: Unexpected Results

The first thing Draco needed to do, he'd decided when he met Luna again, was to figure out what was wrong with the cabinet. _Secrets of Dark Objects: Vanishing Cabinets_ lay on the floor in front of the cabinet, Draco kneeling before it. Luna was absentmindedly picking up and examining random objects.

"It says here that I should put something in the cabinet and see if it comes back," Draco said. "The incantation is Harmonia nectere passus. It's the spell to fix the cabinet if broken and it's supposed to take loads of repeating. However, if the first run is successful, then we'll know it's not broken."

"Perhaps we should have asked Roger Bowtruckle," Luna voiced, a thought that had been in her head for quite some time. "He must have had some information about it seeing as no one else could locate it."

"You think he used it?" Draco furrowed his eyebrows as Luna nodded. "Should we go back?"

The Ravenclaw shook her head. "It's probably not advisable. Just do as the book says, I suppose."

Draco stood up and, opening the cabinet, raised his wand at the passage. He grabbed a small dust-covered box sitting amidst a crowd in the clutter pile closest to him and placed it inside. He closed the door and stepped back.

Under his breath, he muttered, "Harmonia nectere passus." From inside the cabinet came a sound similar to a gust of wind traveling through a hollow pipe. Draco opened the cabinet and saw nothing there.

"Did it work?" Luna asked, setting down an ancient looking trinket.

Draco picked up the book and read, "Once the object had vanished, the incantation must be performed again. If the cabinet is not damaged, then the object should return unharmed."

Setting the book back down, he shut the cabinet again and repeated the words. Once more the whooshing sound was heard so Draco reopened the cabinet. He knelt to scrutinize the box, see if it had any changes, but this wasn't very difficult. When he removed the lid, he could see the bottom of the cabinet. Picking it up to ensure the bottom of the box wasn't identical to the bottom of the cabinet, he found that he could put his hand through the box as if it were a bracelet.

"I suppose it's not in perfect shape, the cabinet," Luna voiced after a silent moment.

Draco gave a slight nod before taking off the box-bracelet and chucking it across the room. He sat down and pulled the book onto his lap.

"It appears that the only incantation needed to fix this just needs to be repeated over and over..." he trailed off in confusion. "So we just keep putting things in here" he knocked on the cabinet "until something returns unscathed."

Luna walked over to him and took a seat on the floor. She peered at the book from the side and deduced that it could probably be done in one afternoon.

"They couldn't invent a spell that'll actually fix it after one uttering?" Draco remarked. "Well, best to get started right away."

Two hours later, they were still at. A millionth pile of junk had begun to form including all the things the two students had tried to transport. Draco mindlessly grabbed at another object, but this time Luna stopped him.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"That tiara you're holding is a very valuable artifact," Luna informed him. The tiara was shaped like a bird, with two golden "wings" decorated with white jewels, a blue gemstone in the middle to serve as a bird's body, two black gemstones connected like a chain to show it was a tail, and a silver head atop the body. There were words etched onto the surface: _Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure._

"Why, what is it?"

"It's the lost diadem of Ravenclaw."

Draco's eyes went from examining what he held to frowning at Luna. He waited for her to go on.

"This is the only known relic of Ravenclaw's," Luna explained. "If you put that in there, it might get destroyed."

"It's in the room of forgotten things for a reason. I would assume it is no longer wanted or of any use."

"Actually," Luna said, "it was stolen from Rowena Ravenclaw by her daughter Helena. Helena was a jealous woman and disliked how much attention her mother received. She knew wearing the diadem was supposed to increase your intelligence. After she stole it, Rowena became sick and wanted to see her daughter before departing this world, despite what she did. She sent Helena's lover, now known as the Bloody Baron," Draco's jaw dropped "to find her, which he did in an Albanian forest. However, Helena wouldn't come back with the Baron so he stabbed her. His own actions shocked and horrified him to such an extent than he killed himself as well."

Draco stood in deep thought for a moment before saying, "Did you say Albania?"

Luna nodded. "I believe Helena hid the diadem there so who knows how it ended up here?"

"I do," Draco said quietly. "It was Voldemort." He looked up at Luna. "After he suffered defeat back in 1981, he retreated to Albania and was found by Quirrell. After the failure with retrieving the Sorcerer's Stone, Voldemort went back until Wormtail found him. I wonder how he knew the diadem would be there or if he was even looking for it in the first place."

"Helena must have told him," Luna concluded.

This only confused Draco. "Um, wouldn't she be dead by now?"

Luna nodded. "Nowadays, she goes by The Grey Lady."

"The Ravenclaw ghost," Draco realized. "But that means Voldemort would've had to ask about it while he was here at school."

"Which makes sense because he hasn't been able to get inside the actual school to put the diadem here after his defeat."

"So he found the diadem and brought it here. But why?"

Luna shrugged. "You can't put that in the cabinet, though. It might get destroyed. We had best return it to where it belongs or give it to Dumbledore."

Draco muttered to himself. "Destroyed..." Suddenly his eyes lit up. "What if it's a Horcrux?"

"Horcrux?"

Slightly pleased with himself for having to explain a concept to a Ravenclaw, he told her.

"I don't see any other reason for which Voldemort would possess this diadem," Draco said. "But only certain things can destroy a Horcrux."

"Perhaps sending it through the cabinet might destroy it," Luna suggested. "Actually destroy the bit of soul inside."

"If it does, we'll know." Draco opened the door and gently set the diadem down. He closed the door and repeated the incantation. A whoosh followed. Draco opened the door to verify that the artifact was gone. The he went through the same routine again, but before he could open the door, he suddenly saw the Dark Lord before his mind's eyes, loudly groaning in pain. Draco shot out of the vision and opened the door. The diadem looked intact.

Draco told Luna about what he had just seen. "When Dumbledore destroyed Marvolo Gaunt's ring, another Horcrux, I had a similar vision. Potter had it as well. I think Potter and Voldemort have some sort of special connection they formed back in 1981."

"So why did you see it too?"

"I believe all the Death Eater's can, but I'm not really sure. How do we determine if it's no longer a Horcrux?"

"By wearing it, of course," said Luna, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"It might be dangerous," Draco warned, thinking back to how Marvolo Gaunt's ring had cursed him.

"Or it might be safe."

"Well, I don't want you to get hurt, and I'm not about to wear a bloody tiara."

Luna shook her head. "I consent. And I trust you to help me if I get into any sort of trouble."

Draco sighed. This was the only way to find out. And if he was the one putting on the diadem, Luna might not know how to save him should the need arise.

"Alright, here you go," he hesitantly said, handing her the object.

Luna took a deep breath and slowly slid the tiara onto her head and...

Nothing. She kept it in place a little while longer, but nothing. As she removed it from her head, she said, "If I didn't know any better, I would say it's a fake because it didn't increase my intelligence, or at least I didn't feel anything. But this is undoubtedly the real diadem."

"So maybe when we sent it through the cabinet all its enchantments were destroyed," Draco hypothesized. "We might have to send a living thing through the cabinet and see if it comes out alive because a Horcrux is a living thing and it might have died."

"Avis," said Luna, shooting an army of birds into the cabinet. Draco shut the door before the birds could escape.

"Harmonia nectere passus," he spoke. When he saw the cabinet was empty, he did it again. He carefully opened the door, only to find a pile of dead birds on the cabinet floor. With a wave of his wand, Draco sent them underground in the Forbidden Forest.

The disappointment that came with not being able to fix the cabinet yet canceled out with the relief that came from having destroyed another Horcrux.

"I believe that's three Horcruxes down," he said. "I wonder how many more there are."

"Let's go talk to Dumbledore and the Grey Lady," Luna suggested.

Draco nodded in agreement and followed her out the room, accidentally leaving the book behind.


	25. 24: Memories to Cherish

**WARNING: Very history heavy.**

The two Hogwarts students sat quietly and uncomfortably as Dumbledore paced his office in deep thought. Luna had decided that it was perhaps best not to question the Grey Lady and proposed to ask Dumbledore to do it instead.

"You're sure the diadem was a Horcrux?" he asked, abruptly turning towards them.

"Yes," Draco spoke, teeth gritted in frustration, having had to explain everything several times. He wasn't a storyteller, and Dumbledore knew this. Either Draco's patience was being tested or Dumbledore had some reason to doubt that a Horcrux was successfully destroyed.

"Before you went to the Gaunt shack with me," the headmaster spoke, suddenly changing the subject, "do you remember that I told you I would show you the real memory of Morfin Gaunt?"

Draco nodded, even though he didn't actually remember.

"Well, perhaps I've got a better memory for you. You don't need to see it, it's quite dull, I'm afraid. But its contents are quite important so I'll describe it."

Dumbledore walked back to his chair and sat down.

"It still seems like it was only last week," he began, "that I met Tom Marvolo Riddle. I was to speak with Mrs. Cole of Wool's Orphanage upon Tom Riddle's admittance to Hogwarts. The director of the orphanage informed me of certain incidents that involved Tom. I was directed to the boy's room, where I convinced him to return all objects he'd stolen from others after demonstrating my own magical ability. I invited him to attend Hogwarts and gave him the information he needed. Perhaps Tom was feeling less different after learning the truth about why he was able to do certain things without trying, so he told me he could speak to snakes."

He paused before continuing, "I believe that his past is very important to him, and so it is crucial we study it. This memory, for instance, shows that Voldemort had a knack for collecting trophies. I have shown Harry this memory, and others that explain why Draco and I were at the Gaunt shack."

"So he knows which side I'm fighting for?" Draco said. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Dumbledore smiled. "All knowledge is dangerous, just as anything powerful is. Fortunately, you have no need to worry." Returning to his previous subject, he said, "The Horcruxes we've had so far are valuable trinkets in their own ways. The diary was a means of re-entering the school; the ring connected the Gaunts to the Peverells; the diadem is the prized artifact of the Ravenclaw community.

"I suppose it makes sense that he chose the diadem. He was quite taken with his magical background and managed to procure esteemed objects from Slytherin and Hufflepuff as well. Mister Malfoy, you may not enjoy storytelling, but I hope you are quite alright with listening."

Draco gave a slight nod and waited for Dumbledore to start.

"Let us begin with Bob Odgen. He was a wizard employed by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He traveled to the Gaunt shack to call forward Morfin about magic used to harm a Muggle, known to us as Tom Riddle Sr. During this meeting, Morfin attacked Odgen while his father abused Merope. After saving Merope from the Revulsion Jinx, Odgen left the shack and returned with enough forces to take Morfin and Marvolo to Azkaban. I saw this in Odgen's memory, and perhaps the most important thing in it was that Marvolo had in is possession his ring and the locket of Slytherin, but he held or wore neither as he was escorted away from his home."

"That's how you knew you might find the ring there," Draco realized.

"Shouldn't the locket have been there too?" Luna said. "Unless Voldemort went back and took it somewhere else for fear of keeping two Horcruxes so close together."

"A good guess from both of you, but not accurate. Tom Riddle acquired the locket from a woman who purchased it from Borgin & Burkes, to whom it was sold by Merope Gaunt. You see, when I looked at Morfin's memory, I saw his encounter with Tom. Morfin explained the Marvolo was dead and that Tom's true father was a Muggle. Merope had seduced the muggle with a love potion and made the mistake of quitting to use it on him after a long time. He immediately left her, prompting her to return to her family, only to steal Slytherin's locket. After this, the memory blacked out. When Morfin awoke, he was missing the ring he had with him. Across the valley, Tom Riddle Sr. and his parents lay dead. The Ministry suspected Morfin, who confessed without hesitation. It was in Azkaban that I found him and extracted the true memory but before I could provide the proof to the Ministry, Morfin had passed."

There was a moment of silence.

"It was Voldemort who killed them," Luna voiced.

Dumbledore nodded. "When he learned the truth, that he was a half-blood, he stunned Morfin before killing the Riddle family with Morfin's wand. He returned to change Morfin's memory and took the ring. Of course, all of this is just conjecture, but Voldemort most likely took the ring with him and waited to make it a Horcrux so that when the Ministry came, they wouldn't be able to detect the dark magic in the house."

"Just how many Horcruxes did he make?" Draco wondered aloud.

"At least five," Dumbledore said. "The three that have been destroyed, Slytherin's locket, and Hufflepuff's cup. We have no proof regarding the latter two, but I've seen yet another memory that suggests that they are, in fact, cursed with the dark magic. After completing Hogwarts, Tom Riddle found a job at Borgin & Burkes. One of their customers and sellers was a Hufflepuff pureblood named Hepzibah Smith, a collector of valuable magical artifacts. Hepzibah was visited by Tom one day, and she decided to show him two of her most beloved possessions: the cup and the locket. She informed him that Burke had purchased it from 'a ragged-looking woman who seemed to have stolen it, but had no idea of its true value.'"

"He knew right then it was his mother, didn't he?" Draco deduced.

"He did, and he believed the locket to be his birthright. Two days later, Hepzibah was found dead, her treasures gone. The memory I just recounted was that of her house-elf, Hokey, who was quite old and accused of accidentally poisoning her master, of which Hokey had a clear memory. I learned that this was another false memory and it was really Voldemort who took the cup and the locket and killed Hepzibah. You'll understand that it was unusual for someone as brilliant and academically successful as Tom to have chosen to work in Borgin & Burkes. Professor Slughorn himself encouraged the student to find a position at the Ministry, but Tom was much more interested in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts here."

"The irony," Draco muttered.

"Yes, the irony," Dumbledore repeated. "After Tom began calling himself Voldemort, he returned to the school to discuss with me, the new headmaster, about taking the position. Of course, his army of Death Eaters awaited him at the Hog's Head and I made very clear to him that I was aware of this and wished to know his true desire for returning to Hogwarts. Furious, he cursed the teaching post and left. No teacher lasts more than a year in that position, as you have very well learned by now. And now, I understand that he only returned to hide the diadem. He arrogantly assumed that only he had known and would ever know about the Room of Requirement."

"I'd say it's on its way to being common knowledge," Luna said.

"One last thing," Dumbledore told them, "before I let you go. Draco, I told you I brought Slughorn here for a reason, not just to teach. There is a memory I have of him and Tom Riddle—a rather peculiar one, you see, for it has been tampered with."

"You think Voldemort took a Horcrux-to-be from Slughorn?" Draco asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Much worse, I'm afraid. The memory shows Tom Riddle questioning Slughorn after class about Horcruxes. After Tom mentions that word, the room fills with a fog as Slughorn demands, in an unnaturally loud voice, that Tom never utter that word and insists that he wouldn't tell Tom a single thing if he knew anything about Horcruxes. I will show this memory to Mister Potter and entrust him with collecting the true memory from Slughorn, who has already recruited Harry as a member of the Slug Club. Perhaps we'll be fortunate enough to learn what Voldemort discovered about Horcruxes."

"Seeing as three Hogwarts houses have relics that are now Horcruxes," Draco started, "we can assume that another Horcrux is a relic of Gryffindor."

"The sword is the only known relic, and it has always remained with me," Dumbledore said. "We are not a hundred percent sure that the diadem is a Horcrux, especially since it didn't try to kill you when you attempted to kill the piece of soul it may have contained. It is best that I keep the diadem. I will ask Helena Ravenclaw about it and about Tom Riddle. Thank you both for your help and I hope you have learned much today."

"Indeed," Draco affirmed. He and Luna left the office for a late lunch and decided that they'd had enough of magic and education for awhile.


	26. 25: The Thing About Lying

After taking three days away from the cabinet, Draco knew he had to return. He and Luna spent a couple hours each day that week, save for New Year's. On the Sunday that all the students were coming back to Hogwarts, Draco had found a small black bird in a cage on the seventh floor. As he put the bird in and performed the spell, Luna checked her watch.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore's office," she informed him. "We're already late."

"Harmonia nectere passus," Draco whispered.

"He said it was imperative we arrive before Harry and Ron."

Draco sighed and turned around, following Luna out the door without remembering to open the cabinet. Over the past week, _Secrets to Dark Objects: Vanishing Cabinets_ had accidentally been pushed aside. After Draco left it there, he hadn't remembered its existence and somehow the book had made its way out of his sight. When he wanted to go back to the back earlier that week, he couldn't find it.

The two students quickly made their way to the Headmaster's office. Since Dumbledore was back on the candy passwords, Draco checked his wand for the list and spoke "Apple rings."

The gargoyle spun and Draco ascended the stairs, Luna right behind him. Somehow, they found Dumbledore alone in his office.

"Sit," he commanded without moving his eyes from the paper he was looking down at. Draco and Luna sat motionless for what seemed like hours before Dumbledore finally met their eyes.

"Are you both familiar with the concept of lying?"

Draco frowned; it was a weird question for the headmaster of Hogwarts to ask. Despite this, he nodded, as did Luna.

"First, I'd like to let you know that to obtain the location of the diadem from Helena Ravenclaw, Tom Riddle had to lie about his intentions to the Grey Lady. An obvious deduction, I'm sure. At any rate, the ghost of Ravenclaw appreciates the two anonymous students who accidentally removed all dark magic from the relic."

Draco understood why Dumbledore had kept him and Luna a secret from Helena, but didn't quite catch the purpose of saying the removal was an accident.

"You see, Helena cannot know that you two learned what it was an gave an honest attempt, a successful attempt, at destroying it," Dumbledore explained.

As the students nodded their understanding, the old man continued, "Second, I'm afraid we must tell Miss Granger's friends that she had to go into hiding with her parents. If they ask you anything, she left the day after Christmas. We do not need another more people to panic about this."

"We still need to find her," Draco muttered.

"That we do," Dumbledore agreed, "but unfortunately, none of us knows where to look."

Draco was still feeling hopeless. Over the break, there had been plenty of time for him to reflect on the rescue at his house. He could've saved her. She'd be here with him right now, instead of locked away in a cell to rot. He'd also given great thought to his possible feelings. Ashamed to admit, he went alone to his Necessity Room to find books on feeling-revealing spells.

As Dumbledore dismissed him and Luna, Draco's mind wandered to the passage he'd read. It told him that magic couldn't do such a thing and be accurate. Draco had scoffed and left the room immediately. But now, he realized that the only way to know for sure how he felt about Hermione was by gauging his reaction when he finally found her. _If_ he ever found her.

 _Stop thinking like that_ , he told himself.

"Good, stay positive," Luna suddenly said. It still amazed Draco how Luna knew exactly what he was thinking. Either she could literally read minds or she was very good at guessing what people were thinking and feeling just by observing.

"It's hard to stay positive," Draco admitted. "I know after I lost contact with Hermione I seemed like I forgot about it."

"I know you didn't. It's there, in the back of your head, everyday. And I'm sure you think about her and plan how to find her when we're not working on the cabinet."

Draco sighed deeply. "I just feel so helpless. The past five years seemed to go by so smoothly compared to this one. I could actually solve the problems and now, when it matters most, I'm stuck at school, having to lie about the whereabouts of someone who's always been there for me because even I don't know where she bloody is."

Luna rested her hand on his shoulder. "I don't think I've ever seen you so emotional, seeing as you _are_ the Slytherin prince." She smiled. "You clearly care a lot for Hermione, as do I. But I feel that there's something more than just friendship."

Draco's head snapped towards her.

"It seems that you feel so, too," she concluded. "You know how Hermione feels about you, and perhaps you feel the same. Use that as the power to keep you going."

"Now I know why you're in Ravenclaw," Draco chuckled. "Very perceptive."

"I do my best," Luna replied modestly. "You see, it was my mother who taught me to be so observant, and carefully so. Sadly, as you know, she wasn't being careful enough during one of her experiments."

"I'm glad you and Hermione are my friends," Draco said. "I know, not a very Slytherin thing to say, but even us tough blokes have to find someone to unburden ourselves to."

"Don't worry," Luna told him, "I'm sure that once we find Hermione, you'll go back to being the calm, collected Draco that all of Hogwarts fears."

"Fears? I wouldn't go that far."

"Just ask your other friends: Blaise, Theo, Adrian, and Pansy. They would tell you the same."

Draco's face fell at the mention of their names. "They're safe," he convinced himself.

"Of course, they are. Blaise is in hiding, Adrian's family is practically neutral, and Theo and Pansy are at the Order. You'll see them again come summer. Dumbledore could arrange for you to join the Order."

"That would be helpful. Then I wouldn't have to go around with Potter being suspicious of my every move."

As Draco went down to the dungeons and Luna climbed the steps to the Ravenclaw tower, Harry and Ron were leaving Dumbledore's office with the knowledge that Hermione and her family were somewhere safe but couldn't be contacted.

"This is bloody ridiculous!" Ron exclaimed as the made their way up to the Gryffindor tower.

"It doesn't make sense either," said Harry. "Why would Hermione leave without a word? Even if she did have to leave urgently? Surely she would have sent us one of those Patronus messages."

"She can do those?"

"Yeah, she said she learned it over the summer and practiced it when school started."

Ron frowned. "But wasn't Hermione safe at school?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "When, in the past five and a half years, have we ever been safe? We've got not one, but _two_ Death Eaters here!"

Ginny was waiting for them by the portrait. "It's about bloody time," she said.

"Dumbledore needed to talk to us," Harry explained.

"Why am I never in the loop?" the redheaded girl groaned.

"Because you're a little girl," Ron accused, which only earned him a hard smack on the shoulder as he entered the common room.

The two boys checked their rooms to ensure that their belongings had safely made it there before returning to the common room and crashing onto the couch.

"MEOW!"

Harry jumped up, spun around, and yelled, "Levicorpus!", a curse he'd learnt from the half-blood prince's book.

The thing he'd accidentally sat on was a furry and fat orange cat which was now hanging upside down in the air.

"Harry!" Ginny shrieked. "Put him down! Hermione's going to kill you!"

Harry complied but only after the cat was safely on the couch had he realized what Ginny had said.

"Hermione's going to kill me?" he repeated.

"That's Crookshanks, you idiot. Where is Hermione, anyway? I bet she's been in the library all winter break."

Ron stepped closer to the duo and said, "Dumbledore just told us that Hermione's gone into hiding with her parents."

Instead of the expected reaction, Ginny punched him again.

"Ow! _I_ didn't send her away!" Ron shouted.

"You weren't going to tell me this?" she angrily spoke.

"Of course, we were going to tell you eventually."

"Eventually?!"

"Guys, stop!" Harry ordered. "Stop! Don't you see? Hermione left her cat behind. She would _never_ leave her cat behind. She remember her trunks full of books and clothes, but not her living, breathing pet?"

Ginny's eyebrows began knitting a deep furrow. "Actually, Hermione's trunks are still in her room. I went to go get her before you two came, but everything was unpacked and almost just as she'd left it. As if she's still been living here."

"But she's not..." Ron trailed off. "You think something happened to her and Dumbledore's trying to cover it up?"

Harry suddenly realized something. "We took two train trips: one to Kings Cross Station and one back to Hogsmeade Station. Only three people weren't on the train."

"Harry," Ginny interrupted, "how could we possibly know that? We didn't see everyone."

"At least on the way back, we had to pass every single compartment to get to the only empty one at the back of the train because bloody Ron thought we had a few more weeks of vacation."

"Hey!" the Weasley in question cried indignantly. "If your house burnt down, you'd be thinking the same."

"It was my house too, you imbecile," Ginny said, "and I got up in time."

"Because you're a girl."

Ginny smacked him again.

"Ow! Well, no one had the decency to wake me up!"

"We found you in the middle of a field about a hundred meters away from the temporary living space, moaning about your precious Lavender—"

"Enough!" Harry yelled. "Not only have we made a serious ruckus, but neither of you is properly listening to me. We already knew Hermione wouldn't be on the train. I also didn't see Luna, but she's our friend. That only leaves the Death Eater himself."

"Malfoy?" Ginny said. "You're bloody kidding, right? How will you go about proving it?" She sighed. "Never mind that. Give me your bloody book."

"What?"

"The half-blood prince's book. It's too dangerous. You could've killed Crookshanks."

"Are you going to burn it?" Harry asked in horror.

"Just give me the book and follow me. Ron, get your stupid arse up to your room."

After Harry returned with the book, Ginny led him to the Room of Requirement. A moment of pacing and the door appeared, allowing the two Gryffindors to enter.

"It's the Room of Hidden Things," Ginny explained. "You can toss away anything you want to forget and it'll get lost in this mess."

"I wish this bloody room could give me some proof against Malfoy," Harry muttered.

"Close your eyes," Ginny instructed. "We don't need you to find this book again."

Harry did as he was told and moments later there were lips on his. The two lovebirds pulled apart when they heard some tweeting.

"Sounds like birds," Harry commented, not sure how to deal with the kiss he'd been waiting to have for so long.

Ginny walked closer to a black cabinet from which she felt the sound was coming from. She opened it and out flew a black bird.

She laughed and said, "You never know what you'll find up here."

"You're absolutely right," Harry agreed, but that was because he'd found exactly what he'd wanted: proof against Malfoy. On the floor by the cabinet was a book that hadn't been there before.

"Secrets to Dark Objects: Vanishing Cabinets," Harry read. He opened the front cover and read, "Property of Malfoy Library."

"That bastard!" Harry angrily yelled. Bloody Draco Smirk-Arse Malfoy was going to get it now. Harry would make sure of that.

A/N: This chapter turned out much longer than I thought. Anyway, Harry's got dirt on Malfoy, but he's taking it the wrong way! And will Draco ever figure out how he feels about Hermione? I realize more than half the chapter was written in the Gryffindors' POV but I felt it was an important insight, even though this series is Draco centric. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	27. 26: Sectumpsempra

During lunch on the first day of classes, Draco scarfed down his food before leaving the hall in a matter of minutes. He was in no mood to face all the students in the Great Hall, loudly enjoying themselves as if nothing was going wrong, as if Hermione Granger wasn't stuck in a dungeon somewhere, waiting to die or was already dead. Of course, they wouldn't know that, but still. A little concern would be polite to show every now and then.

As he made his way to the common room, he could hear the light tread of someone's shoes. He stopped in his place and he ceased to hear the footsteps. Draco nonchalantly reached down to "fix" his shoe and stood back up. He continued walking, but instead of going into the dungeons, he made way for the nearest lavatory. If he was going to defend himself against whoever was following him, he might as well do so away from the Great Hall and the Slytherin commons.

He walked right to the sink and waited for his pursuer to enter the bathroom. His head was slightly tilted up so he could see the mirror and to his surprise, it was Potter.

Draco spun around and shot a hex, only to be dodged by the Golden Gryffindor.

"Why the bloody hell are you following me?" he demanded.

"What did you do to Hermione?" Potter shot back.

Draco's eyes widened. He was getting worse at not showing his emotions.

"Caught you, didn't I?" Potter continued. "I found Hermione's cat in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione would _never_ leave Crookshanks behind."

The damn cat! He'd forgotten the cat.

"Not to mention this," Potter said, showing him a very familiar book. "What's your use for a vanishing cabinet? Is that where you trapped Hermione? For Voldemort?"

"The cabinet doesn't even work!" Draco finally managed to speak.

"Well, I think it does. See, I found this book yesterday, right after a bird flew out of the cabinet. And I learned what it does. It's just like the Chamber of Secrets with the basilisk: you're killing anyone you Death Eaters deem unworthy of magic!"

Draco sent another hex at Potter, but the boy deflected it. "I see you're getting quite competent," Draco said. "Perhaps it's because of the training you received from me during those Dumbledore's Army meetings."

"You were against us the whole time," Potter angrily breathed. "You bloody tricked us! Pull up your left sleeve and prove I'm wrong."

Draco gritted his teeth as he wandlessly shoved Potter into the bathroom wall. "I could beat you in a flash," he told his adversary, walking up to him, "but I can't hurt you. That would only make your assumptions come true." And for Hermione. "You don't know what the bloody _hell_ you're talking about and don't act like you know about everything and everyone because we both know you don't. I don't know where's your precious Mudblood." Draco externally cringed, and Potter noticed.

"What's wrong?" he taunted. "Can't say it anymore? Maybe it's because you know who you are and what you're doing. Why don't you just kill me already? We know you want to. We know you know the spell. Hell, I remember when you killed that spider in Moody's class our fourth year without a second thought! So why don't you just go for it now?"

"I can't!" Draco insisted. "Incarcerous!" Ropes shot out and entangled Potter, but not before Potter shouted, "Sectumsempra!"

Draco shot back and fell to the floor, blood spurting from his insides. "Wh-where d-did you l-learn that?" he sputtered. recognizing it as one of Snape's own curses. His wand had fallen out of his hands and he unsuccessfully tried to reach for it. Wandlessly, he levitated the tied up Potter and threw him against the wall several times before realizing that the Dark Lord had done the same to a poor victim during the Christmas break of Draco's fifth year. He set Potter down.

As he slowly lost consciousness, he managed to utter, "It's all your fault. And maybe his." He was referring to Voldemort. "And now she's gone." His eyes closed just as Dobby apparated into the room to save him.

Hours later, he awoke in the hospital wing. Voices came from his right but he couldn't turn his neck to see who it was. He slowly raised his hand to his neck and wandlessly eased the pain. Now able to turn, he saw Snape conversing with Madam Pomfrey.

In the bed across from him, Potter sat up, rubbing his sides. The moment Potter's eyes met Draco's, the reckless 6th year Boy Who Lived To Kill Other Accidentally jumped out of bed and snatched his wand off the bedside table. Potter slowly dragged himself towards Draco as the latter used all his strength to draw up a shield without his wand. Where _was_ his wand?

"You broke my whole rib cage!" Potter yelled, disregarding the fact that two adults were nearby.

"Really?" Draco drawled. "You seem to be moving quite well for a dead boy."

"Unfortunately for you, I'm still very much alive, thank you."

"Boys!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked as she stormed into the room. "Get back into bed!" She grabbed Potter by the shoulders and knocked his wand out of his hands. "Stop being ridiculous!"

Draco undid the shield.

"He tried to kill me!" Potter cried indignantly.

"If I could interject my opinion," came Snape's voice, "it was Draco who was sprawled on the bathroom floor, blood spilling out of every pore while you were merely tied up with just one _fractured_ rib."

Potter opened his mouth but nothing came out.

"Got no defense now, do you?" Draco said.

"I know you killed Hermione!" Potter insisted.

Draco rolled his eyes as Madam Pomfrey said, "Grow up, both of you! I suspect Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall will arrive shortly to discuss your behaviors with you. You've given me now choice but to strap you to your beds." The nurse performed a spell, first on Potter, then on Draco, to keep both of them from leaving their bedside. She collected Potter's wand from the floor and marched off, saying, "No more words from either of you!"

"I have your wand," Snape simply told Draco before following her.

"What bloody proof do you have?" Draco spat at Potter.

"This book. And you admitted to using it."

"It's for me, you stupid oaf!" Draco half-truthed. "I need a way to get out of here when Voldemort attacks, which he will."

"I don't believe you," Potter said. "Show me your left arm, if you've really got nothing to hide."

"I don't have to show you anything. You tell me right now why on earth I would send Granger through a cabinet that doesn't work."

"It does work!"

"A bird coming back doesn't say anything." But Draco knew that it did work because before Luna dragged him off to see Dumbledore, Draco had only said the words to transport the bird back and forgotten to use it. "How did you find the book, anyway?"

"I asked for proof against you."

"That doesn't make sense. When I needed the book, I couldn't find it."

"Maybe it's because the room wanted me to have it."

"Alright, so you don't believe the words coming out of my mouth and you already insist on being superior to me. Try asking Dumbledore why he won't kick me out. You were in the hospital wing after I got cursed, weren't you?"

"I understand why you got cursed," Potter said.

"Oh, really? Well, go on, take a shot."

"Dumbledore told me all about Horcruxes. He showed me the ring and said he'd destroyed it. My guess? You were trying to hide the ring when Dumbledore found you and when he went to destroy it, it somehow cursed you. Then that vision you said you had...I had the same one. And I think that when Voldemort tried to kill me sixteen and a half years ago, he transferred some of his powers and himself to me. I think that when he turns people into Death Eaters, they can see into his mind just like I can. That's why Snape knew what was going on and made his way to Dumbledore in time."

After a moment of silence, Draco burst into laughter. "You think you're so clever," he said. "Very well. You're right."

Potter's jaw dropped in shock.

"What's the surprise? I thought you knew all along."

"But you're admitting it!"

"I am," Draco said as he pulled up his left sleeve. "And I killed your dear Hermione Granger."

"WHAT?!"

"It wasn't terribly difficult. One day, I may tell you why, and more importantly, how." Draco realized that going along with Potter's story would make him safer from Voldemort and make up for his loss of emotional and magical control earlier.

Tears streamed down an angry Potter's face. "I knew it! I bloody knew it!"

Madam Pomfrey stormed back into the room. "Didn't I tell you to keep it down?"

Potter struggled to jump out of bed but he couldn't move.

"He killed Hermione! He just told me!"

Draco scoffed. "I did no such thing."

Madam Pomfrey had no option but to knock Potter out and calm him down.

Once Draco could get out of the Infirmary, he could erase Potter's memory of the whole incident. While he was quite frustrated with the meddling Boy Wonder, one good thing had come of all this: Draco was able to shed himself of all the emotional turmoil he'd faced with Hermione's capture. He knew he would find her, but first, he had to be calm and put himself back together. Now wasn't the time for mistakes or hesitation. The moment he got out of the bed, he would get his wits about him and take care of the mess he'd made.

Draco Malfoy was back.


	28. 27: Remembering Felix

There was no time for frustrated, stressed, mopey and emotional Draco. No reason to be feeling any of those. The first semester of his sixth year, he definitely had his relapse, but now it was time to pick up the pieces and be the Draco Malfoy he needed to be. Of course, he had a great heap of problems but now, with his new mindset, everything seemed doable.

Voldemort was technically his boss: well, Draco had indeed been preparing for that since his first year although...

The Vanishing Cabinet still remained broken: a little bit of work everyday would have it ready in time as well as...

Dumbledore had to die by the end of the year if Draco didn't want to die: Draco laughed at this because no one was in any real danger here except...

Draco was cursed: potentially problematic, yet ultimately just another reason for Draco to keep himself together, which was crucial because...

Potter wanted to murder him for "killing" his best friend, among other reasons: Potter could do no harm to the emotionally hardened and much more alert Draco, who didn't feel the need to obliviate Potter or obtain any more alliances than he already had, aka Luna who knew that...

Hermione was gone and it was his fault: something told Draco that a little liquid luck could solve his problem and had he not been so far gone after her capture, he might have thought of it sooner. On the bright side, Katie Bell was back from the hospital and left no death weighing down Draco's conscious.

No more mistakes, no more second guessing, no more doing things just to keep up appearances. Draco could deal with the trials of school and Quidditch as a sixth year at Hogwarts while taking care of business that pertained to his loyalties, both fake and true. His long stay in the hospital, was no obstacle. Things were about to get very real.

As Draco downed his liquid luck in the Slytherin commons, Harry Potter took his out up in the Gryffindor tower. While Draco Malfoy had remained in the hospital for more than a month because of Sectumsempra, a great deal had passed. Dumbledore informed Harry of his mission to collect Slughorn's true memory. When he tried to be casual, like Riddle had, after class one day, Slughorn had instantly caught on and shooed Harry away. He'd gone back to his room to find Ron high on love, or rather, a love potion. Of course, this led to another awkward encounter with Slughorn, who cured Ron's random desires. To celebrate, Slughorn poured some mead for each of them, but this only poisoned Ron, so Harry had to shove a bezoar down the red-head's throat. Later, when Ron was in the hospital, it was revealed that the poisoned mead was supposed to be a gift from Madam Rosmerta to Dumbledore, but Slughorn selfishly kept it for himself. Also, Ron inadvertently broke up with Lavender by muttering Hermione's name in his sleep.

Harry sighed as he thought of Hermione, one of his best friends, who had been killed by the heavily protected bastard Malfoy. He wouldn't tell anyone else the truth until the body was found, not just because of how much it would hurt them, but also because there was still a tiny sliver of hope that Malfoy had been bluffing. He'd told his friends that Malfoy had kidnapped Crookshanks but lost him, so Dumbledore must have let the half-Kneazle back into the commons. He then explained that the book he found in the Room of Hidden Things must have been from an older Malfoy.

The liquid luck was supposed to run out quickly, considering how little of it Harry owned (courtesy of Malfoy's potion making skills). If there was time after he'd collected the true memory, which Dumbledore considered of absolute priority, Harry would try to find out the truth behind Hermione's disappearance and hex Malfoy to no end.

Of course, he had no idea that in the dungeons, his archnemesis was preparing to save Gryffindor's top girl.

After Draco drank his potion, his feet instantly took him to the library, where Luna Lovegood was studying alone that evening. With a swish of his wand, Draco packed up her things and sent them back to the Ravenclaw tower.

"Today, then?" was all Luna asked.

Draco simply nodded. "Have you ever vaporized alongside a Death Eater? No, of course you haven't."

Luna held onto his arm and Draco allowed Felix to work his magic by taking him to the right destination. He wasn't sure if the potion even worked like that, but to his relief, he and Luna landed in a pitch black room, and Draco was certain they'd come to the right place.

"Lumos maxima," he spoke, lighting up the entire room. In front of him, passed out on the floor of a cell, was the girl he'd been looking for.

"We found her," Luna said, her voice clear of any uncertainty.

"Now, how do we bloody wake her?" Draco wondered aloud after _Rennervate_ didn't work. Turning to Luna, he said, "The last thing she messaged me was that she was sorry."

"Perhaps she placed herself under a coma so that she wouldn't be susceptible to Bellatrix's torture," Luna suggested. "Maybe your aunt would still try, but this way, she wouldn't get any information out of Hermione."

"Bella was to be my Occlumency teacher and I'm sure she knew her Legilimency as well," Draco remembered. "If she had entered Hermione's mind, we wouldn't be here right now."

"So Hermione blocked her mind before knocking herself out?"

"She must've done a lot of studying by herself." Draco then added, "Probably to beat me," as he chuckled. Then Draco realized aloud, "Hermione _did_ have a lot of faith in me. She knew I'd come for her and somehow I'd find her eventually."

Understanding where Draco was going with this, Luna finished, "So she might have been able to choose not to block her mind from you, a skilled Legilimens!"

Draco nodded and tried to unlock Hermione's cell, but it seemed that these cells had the protection of those at Malfoy Manor. Frowning, Draco realized that they _were_ the same cells. All five cells had been transported to these new dungeons

"We actually can't get her out of here," Draco said, explaining to Luna why.

The Ravenclaw made her way over and knelt by Draco. "Try going into her mind now. Watch her memory spectrum from the moment she was kidnapped up until the moment she went into the coma."

"Okay." Draco took a deep breath and delved into the mind of Hermione Granger.

Draco watched as Hermione and Fenrir Greyback arrived exactly where Draco and Luna had found Hermione.

He felt the werewolf push Hermione onto the floor and snarl at her. "Just you wait til Bella gets here. Your precious Potter and Weasley will have wished they let you go through first. Or maybe they would be relieved that it's you and not them that gets the special treatment."

Draco could see that Hermione felt stupid for having spent precious time learning wandless magic that wouldn't help her against an attacker in the moment.

Soon, Bellatrix arrived and lit up the room, tossing one wand to the werewolf.

"Incarcerous!" she screeched, ropes shooting out of her wand and wrapping themselves around Hermione. "So what compelled you to free Narcissa Malfoy, the mother of someone you hate, the wife and mother of a Death Eater?"

Hermione gasped in false astonishment. "Draco Malfoy's a Death Eater? Harry was right all along!"

"Golden Boy Potter knew?"

"He had his suspicions, and I suppose now we know for sure," Hermione answered. "His mother is innocent, though. She was forced into all of this by the likes of you."

Bellatrix looked enraged and threw a curse at Hermione that put her in some pain, but Draco couldn't tell what it was.

"How could you possible know that?" the witch demanded.

"After you and your friend here torched the Burrow, Dumbledore summoned Harry and Ron because he thought today would be a good opportunity to rescue Sirius, from whom he received a message. When we got there, we found Ollivander and Narcissa locked up."

"Where _is_ the wand maker? And my dreadful cousin?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Crucio!"

Draco cringed at the sight, but maintained his temper.

Bellatrix then turned to her sidekick. "Make sure she doesn't go anywhere."

The next few minutes were of Greyback verbally jabbing at Hermione with the Gryffindor retorting back. Finally, Bellatrix reappeared, with the help of some other wizards and witches, with the five cells from the Malfoy dungeons.

"The bloody Malfoys may have gone through a great deal to make these cells impossible to escape from by yourself," she said, "but no one went about ensuring that they stayed where they were."

"I didn't ask," Hermione muttered.

"What was that?" Bellatrix demanded as she set up the cells.

"Nothing," Hermione said.

"Good." Bellatrix flung Hermione towards the corner cell. "Now, where's the key? Do you have it? Or do one of your precious friends."

Hermione didn't speak.

"Since I found this at the scene of the crime," Bellatrix said as she revealed Potter's ring, "I'll assume that they entrusted the key to you. So hand it over or I'll torture it off you."

Seeing that she had no choice, Hermione dug into her pocket and took out the key, tossing it to Bellatrix. The older witch went in order to properly unlock the cells. She pushed Hermione inside the last one before locking the cells again. Then she undid the ropes.

"Give you a little room to breathe," Bellatrix cackled. "I'll be back."

Hermione watched as everyone emptied the dungeon. Draco saw her sit there for a long time and read her mind as she contemplated her options...of which she believed there were none. She soon fell asleep so there was a blackout of what Draco could see. He sped through the black to see Hermione wake up. She'd gotten Draco's message and finally risen.

"Tell me you're fine," Hermione read aloud by the shine of the light Bellatrix had forgotten to get rid of. A mixture of relief, happiness, and realization waved over her face as she responded with _Of course. Are you?_

Draco had to laugh as he remembered wondering how she could dare to ask him if he was okay while she was stuck in a cell. He watched as she gripped the coin in her hand and just stared at it. Recalling that Draco had seen her message in the morning, he fast forwarded through the memory until he detected that it was morning. The dungeon was dark again, since the light from Bellatrix's magic had run out, but there were cracks in the walls through which tiny bits of light were seeping through.

Draco once more sped through the memory, knowing what the conversation was about. He stopped when he saw Bellatrix enter the room. Hermione slipped the fake coin into her pocket. Draco presumed that that was when she sent her last message. He watched as Bellatrix presented Hermione with her broken wand and the two had a spiteful chat. Finally, the Death Eater left and Draco watched as Hermione put herself into a coma after verbally spelling out exactly how to wake her.

"I know you're going to see this Draco," she said to the air. "And I think you've brought Luna with you. When I go under, I need you to explain to Luna how to wake me up so you can go get the key from Bellatrix. I'm sure you'll find a way. That can be your birthday present to me." With that, she waved her arms around herself and soon closed her eyes.

Draco was thrust back into reality. He turned to Luna and spoke, "I know what we have to do, but we have to be fast."

Luna nodded. "We'll save her today and no later."

Draco agreed: the liquid luck would be running out soon, and though no time had passed in reality while Draco was in the memory, the clock had begun to tick.


	29. 28: Battle of the Wolves

Draco conjured a parchment and spelled the instructions onto there in a matter of seconds.

"I've been very explicit," he told her as he reached for Hermione through the cage, "but in case you don't understand something, just message me." He pulled the fake Sickle from her pocket and handed it to Luna.

He reached into his robe for the Invisibility Cloak when he realized that Ollivander and Sirius still had it! What could he possible do now?

Then he had an idea which might end up being risky. Dropping his wand onto the floor, he said to Luna, "Please protect it: it's an incredibly important part of my life."

With that, Draco transformed into an arctic wolf and sniffed Hermione for a scent of Bellatrix. Sure enough, he smelled a bit of Lestrange in addition to some werewolf and bounded out of the dungeons. Thankful for his excellent night vision, he made his way through several dark corridors, trying to hunt down his aunt. His nose led him to a large room that was connected to a few smaller rooms. He saw Greyback guarding one of the rooms, but he looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep. Draco would have to distract him somehow.

Turning back into a human, Draco messaged Luna: _how far are you?_ In order for his plan to work, Hermione would have to be awake before Draco could pull of his distraction.

 _Nearly there_ , came the response. Relieved that Luna remembered how to use the coins for messaging, Draco waited silently for Luna to give the go ahead.

 _She's awake_ , it finally came. Draco sent back, _Be ready._ He turned back into a wolf and called out to Greyback. The werewolf awoke and ran out of the big room, right into Draco. Snarling at Draco, Greyback turned into a wolf himself, taking the sixth year by surprise. He'd completely forgotten Greyback could change at will, despite what Snape's werewolf lessons from third year covered, because Voldemort was especially generous to his biggest supporters.

Greyback lunged at Draco who rolled over on the floor. He stood on his hind legs and scratched Greyback with his sharp claws, but this did nothing to the beast. Greyback tackled Draco and pinned him down but Draco somehow managed to use an invisible force to throw him back. He paused for a moment, wondering if he could do wandless magic as an animal.

To test the theory, he tackled Greyback and then thought _Stupefy!_ This half worked—Greyback flew into a table in the middle of the big room. Draco cautiously stepped forward, surveying the situation. Was his opponent injured?

Just then, Greyback reared his head back and grabbed the table with his teeth. The decorative vase slid off and crashed onto the floor.

"Who's there?" came Bellatrix's voice from inside the room. "Greyback?"

As Greyback tried to throw the table towards Draco, the arctic wolf launched himself at him and sank his teeth into the werewolf's neck. The werewolf let out a howl and Draco used his wandless magic to blockade the door to Bellatrix's room. He knew his magic was weaker since he was an animal, but he hoped it would hold.

Should he risk turning back into a human, disillusioning himself, and then wandlessly attacking the werewolf? No, there wasn't enough time for that. Fenrir Greyback was now looking more vicious than ever. Growling, he knocked Draco off his feet and pinned him to the floor, having caught Draco off guard after his blockading. Greyback kept trying to bite him, but Draco dodged him and used all his strength to prevent the werewolf from getting his face any nearer. Once again, he tried to wandlessly shove Greyback off, but that required concentration, which he couldn't afford at the time.

Bellatrix could be heard working her way through the blockade. Draco knew he didn't have much time left, not only before she came out, but before his luck ran out. Or had it already run out since he was clearly losing the fight?

All of a sudden, Draco mustered enough power to jerk his head forward and bite the werewolf on the shoulder. The animal jumped back in pain and Draco made his advance again. He used his magic to throw the wolf all the way back to the wall. Draco ran to him and sank his teeth into a large chunk of his back. The werewolf cried out once more as the arctic wolf kept attacking him in various ways until he became unconscious. Triumphant, Draco watched as Greyback turned into a man again and lay there, blood oozing from everywhere.

"YOU KILLED HIM?" came a loud shriek. Bellatrix had broken through Draco's magic and shot ropes at him in wolf form. Draco was confused; he'd only meant to disable the wolf long enough to escape and regroup with Luna about getting the wand.

Draco helplessly let Bellatrix drag him to the dungeons, but the moment she entered, a spell flew at her and knocked her down. It had come from an expectant Hermione, who had stuck Draco's wand through the cells. Draco was relieved that Hermione didn't hit him and made to not to question her later about the bold move. Luna lit up the room and released the ropes holding Draco, who then attacked his aunt, breaking her wand.

Bellatrix cackled. "You think you can defeat-WAH!" Draco scratched her face so hard, his claws stuck to her eyes. When he pulled them out, Bellatrix was screaming in pain, and Luna wasn't in sight. From behind, Hermione shot, to Draco's surprise, the Cruciatus at Bellatrix. No doubt this was punishment for herself and for Neville's parents, but Draco leaped to her and shook his head. Before Hermione could stun Bellatrix, the Death Eater used her own wandless magic to shove the Gryffindor back. Hermione hit her head against the cold stone and cried out loudly..

Not allowing himself to be distracted or shocked, Draco charge at Bellatrix, dodging her magic, and leapt onto her. They struggled for awhile and suddenly, Bellatrix was knocked unconcious. Draco turned to see that Hermione had gotten hold of the wand again.

He turned back into a human and caught his wand, which Hermione had tossed. He rushed over to her and asked, "You okay?" He lifted his hand and combed it through her messy hair.

Hermione nodded, blushing. "But we need to erase her memory then lock her up."

"I can't believe you used the Cruciatus on her!" Draco exclaimed as he walked back over to Bellatrix. "You have to really want to hurt her for the curse to work. You know that. And I can't believe you did that!"

"Are you upset?" Hermione asked worriedly.

Draco laughed. "She totally deserves it. I'm just surprised you resorted to using that curse."

"I may be a Gryffindor, but even I can be vindictive from time to time." She gave Draco a huge grin when he turned to look at her with relief.

"Sorry it took so long," he said before pointing to Bellatrix and saying, "Obliviate." He wiped her whole memory. "When she wakes up, she'll be lucky to know how to talk."

Hermione chuckled. "I feel like a sadist."

Luna finally re-entered the dungeons. "I found the key!" She quickly ran over to Hermione who reminded her that the cells had to be unlocked in order.

"I completely forgot about my liquid luck," Draco explained to Hermione as he removed bite marks from his aunt. "One sec." He vaporized to the big room and came back with the werewolf.

"I think I may have killed him," the Slytherin quietly said. He then removed bite marks from the body.

"There's a spell to find out," Hermione said. "It's—"

"I know," Draco said, performing the spell to confirm what he'd already guessed.

Hermione sighed. "Everything is fine now, Draco." Luna unlocked the last cell and Hermione engulfed her in a hug. Luna dropped the key and Hermione walked them over to Draco. "I'm so happy you guys found me."

"Me too," admitted Draco.

"He was a wreck when you were taken," Luna informed Hermione.

"That's not true," Draco denied as Hermione broke away from Luna and squeezed the life out of Draco.

Draco hugged her back and said, "You know, you helped a lot as well. You knocked my aunt down when we came in, although how did you know it wasn't me?"

Hermione sheepishly shrugged. "I didn't, actually. After Luna woke me up, she read your message, handed me the wand, and turned out the light to wait for Bellatrix inconspicuously. I was so lucky."

"I would hope so," Luna said. "Draco did take the potion after all."

The boy in question stood still. "I just killed someone. He may have been half wolf, in full wolf mode, attacking me, causing me to defend myself using any means necessary. But I still killed him."

"What else could you have done?" Hermione asked. "Don't think about it too much."

Luna reminded him, "Draco Malfoy is back, right? You don't have to feel bad for killing someone who was trying to kill you."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, wondering where that idea could have come from.

"Maybe I'm just shocked we took down Bellatrix," Draco said. "By now the liquid luck has definitely run out, though."

He slipped his wand into the holder Hermione had made him and grabbed the two girls' arms, vaporizing them back to Hogwarts. The trio arrived in the isolated hallway in front of the Room of Requirement.

Draco turned to Hermione. "Let us present the Vanishing Cabinet of Hogwarts." Smirking, he finished, "Wait until you hear what you missed."


	30. 29: Storytelling

"So this is the notorious Vanishing Cabinet," Hermione commented as she ran her fingers over the silver handle. After Draco explained how they fixed the cabinet, she frowned. "Well, that's odd. You repeat the same spell over and over again? Surely there must be another way."

"Perhaps after Hogwarts is over you could invent a better way," Draco suggested. "I actually completely forgot it had been fixed since I found out."

"How do you know it works?" Luna asked. "Before we had a chance to check if the bird was alive we had to go to Dumbledore's and then you were in the Infirmary until earlier today."

Draco suddenly went silent but couldn't managed to keep the smirk off his face.

Hermione groaned. "Draco, what did you do? Why were you in the hospital wing again?"

"Hey, _I_ didn't do anything. Potter, on the other hand..." he trailed off for dramatic effect.

"What did Harry do?" Suspiciously eyeing him, she said, "You didn't try to put him through the cabinet, did you?"

Draco feigned hurt as he replied, "You think so lowly of me." Maybe it wasn't a good time to mention that the thought of shoving Potter through the cabinet _had_ crossed his mind. "Well, I was in the hospital twice, actually. The first time was Christmas and it was for the curse."

"I swear you've spent half the year there because of your bloody curse," Hermione muttered.

"Guess who else was in the hospital?" Luna said. "Ronald." She explained the incident with the love potion and the bezoar and the mead. "He finally broke up with Lavender, though," she added.

"Good," Hermione said. "I don't think I could've stomached anymore of their sick and sappy puppy love."

"Don't you want to know how the broke up?"

Now it was Luna's turn to be suspiciously eyed. "Not particularly, but fine. How?"

"Ronald said your name in his sleep when Lavender came to visit him in the Infirmary."

At this, both Draco and Hermione burst out laughing, and Luna giggled along.

"Oh dear, I don't want to have to deal with that now," Hermione finally said. Turning back to Draco, she said, "I still need an explanation."

"Well," Draco began, scratching the back of his head, "Potter found the book I used to fix the cabinet in this very room and noticed that though you were missing, your cat and your trunks were still here."

"Where did he think I was?"

"Dumbledore told them that you went into hiding with your parents but since he wasn't very careful, a ton of evidence of your stay at Hogwarts still remained. Anyway, when he found the book, it led him right to me. He followed me to the bathroom and demanded to know what I had done to you and what I was doing with the book, and of course, he attacked me—"

"WHAT?!" Hermione exclaimed. "Are you just joking?" She turned to Luna for verification. "He's just pulling my leg, right?"

Luna shook her head and let Draco continue with the story.

"I fought back, of course, but I was in a very bad place mentally—"

This time it was Luna who interrupted him. "Hermione, your capture took a serious toll on him. Not only because you were gone, but because he thought he could have prevented it and none of us had any clue where to begin to look for you."

Draco nodded in agreement. "So Potter took advantage of my instability and although I used Incarcerous on him, he used one of Snape's own spells against me and it basically cut me in a million places and I bled out."

Hermione looked absolutely outraged and spoke at an astonishing speed. "I can't believe he did that! I told him not to go near the half-blood prince's book and I knew the half-+blood prince was Snape, but did he listen to me? NO! Why doesn't he ever listen to me? Nobody listens to me and in the end, I'm the one who's right! I told him Snape's Occlumency lessons were the most important thing he would ever learn, but he had to go mess that up. And he's always so eager to accuse you for everything! We wouldn't be having problems if Harry and Ron learned not to be so prejudiced and accept your help! Why, they never mind asking _me_ for help. I don't know how many times they've come begging for answers to the Charms problem set or the Transfigurations essay and I don't know how many times I've had to deal with 'Sorry, Hermione, we had Quidditch' and I just want to bloody scream at them while pointing out every other Quidditch player from every other house and ask why the hell they've got their lives together and aren't asking me to do their homework for them! I never should've lied about the troll incident first year. I never should've let Ronald's comments get to me. Why did I try to make friends with the two boys who were making fun of me? Okay, fine, maybe I'm overreacting because I love them both dearly, but Harry has gone too far, hurting you in such an extreme manner, and if Ron even thinks he's got a chance with me, I'll shove his wand up his bloody arse and set it to automatically hex him every five minutes!"

She took a deep breath and found a taken aback Luna, a girl quite difficult to surprise, and a wide-eyed Draco, who had never seen or even thought that Hermione could, well, speak as she just did.

Finally regaining composure, Draco stepped forward and repeated, " _Maybe_ you're overreacting?" Grinning, he continued, "Bloody hell, Hermione, you've just taken overreacting to a whole new level."

The Gryffindor blushed profusely as Draco doubled over with laughter. "That comment about what you're going to do to Weasel was particularly out of character. Now, you've got the cheeks to match your red house." And this, of course, reddened her cheeks even more as she looked at her feet.

Smiling, Luna said, "I wonder how you'll react when Draco explains to you what happened next," just as Hermione looked as she was about to defend her actions.

Draco suddenly stopped laughing and Hermione snapped her head up to look at him.

"So as I was nearly dying," he began, knowing it would be crucial to play the sympathy card, "I may have used wandless magic to throw Potter against the wall, but I only broke one rib!"

Hermione was speechless so before she could go on another rant, Draco said, "I did my best not to hurt him for your sake. When we were both in the hospital wing, Potter tried to attack me again and after Madam Pomfrey stopped him, he kept demanding to see my left arm again. He then told me a bird flew out of the cabinet when he found the book, and since I performed the spell for the bird's transfer back and left, Potter found the bird alive, which tipped me off that the cabinet was working. Eventually, he made this wild guess that I was trying to hide Gaunt's ring for Voldemort and when Dumbledore found me and tried to destroy the ring, I got cursed. He then guessed that Death Eaters get visions of Voldemort just like he does so I showed him my left arm and told him he was right."

"You proved you were a Death Eater?" Hermione gasped.

"Well, Voldemort can read his mind, Hermione," Draco defended.

"But now I'm going to get an earful about being wrong to defend you!"

"No, you won't," Luna assured her, eliciting a frown from Hermione. "Draco, why don't you tell Hermione why Harry might possibly have other concerns about Hermione?"

"Um, well," Draco tried to act ashamed but he knew it was too damn funny for his own good. So while chuckling, he admitted, "I might have told Potter that I killed you."

Hermione just gaped for a moment before launching into another rant. "How could you do that to him?! You know what he's going through! Harry's got almost as much on his plate as you! I'm not excusing the fact that he hurt you the way he did, and I'm not excusing you for putting him through such emotional turmoil! For Godric's sake, did you tell everyone you killed me?"

Luna shook her head. "When I spoke with Ron, Ginny, and the others, they all seemed to believe you had been sent away, although they did seem confused that you would leave your belongings behind. I suppose they assumed that you were in a big hurry."

Hermione sighed. "Harry didn't tell them. He didn't want them to feel how he felt."

Draco mistook her words for admiration of Potter and ever so slightly clenched his jaw, for it seemed to him that Hermione fancied Harry, although she actually didn't.

"Get a grip, Malfoy," he muttered, ignoring the curious look from Hermione. Then he said, "He's the one who chose to believe me, you know."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows together. "I guess you're right. Why does he always assume things are a certain way before actually making an effort to learn the truth?"

"You should've seen his face, Mione, it was priceless!"

Hermione's heart stopped. Did Draco just call her Mione? Did he just give her a nickname?

"You okay?" Draco asked.

She took a moment and then chuckled. "I suppose it _is_ quite funny. Perhaps Harry could give me a run for my money when it comes to overreactions." She sighed. "It's hard to stay disappointed at you."

And just like that, Draco was smirking again. She _did_ still fancy the Slytherin Prince.

Changing the subject to something more important, he said, "This entire time I thought Dumbledore had told Potter what happened at the Gaunt shack but he must have half-truthed him just like he didn't explicitly tell me what he told Potter. It makes me wonder what else he's hiding."

"Like who's Arianna," Luna voiced. Her two friends nodded in agreement. "By the way, one of the objects we tested the cabinet with turned out to be a Horcrux."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Really? What was it?" Draco and Luna then collaboratively told Hermione about Ravenclaw's diadem and the extensive history lesson Dumbledore gave them.

"That's a LOT of information," Hermione said. "Even for me."

Doing his best not to roll his eyes, Draco then told Hermione about Potter's task to retrieve Slughorn's memory.

Luna said, "Actually, I think he mentioned earlier that today would be the lucky day. I believe today he took his half of the potion he got from Slughorn and went to get the real memory."

"If that's the case," Draco spoke, "then perhaps we should pay Dumbledore a little visit?"

"Sure, we might as well let him know I'm here," Hermione said. She then looked at Draco, "Is it safe for you to be there?"

The blond boy smirked. "And miss Potter's reactions not only to your presence as a healthy human being, but also to mine?"

Hermione smiled and said, "Since we missed the chance to have a real Christmas, your presence will definitely be Harry's present." She turned and headed for the door.

Luna walked to Draco and whispered, "So we're not telling her you threw the first hex in that bathroom?"

Draco groaned, wondering why he'd taken the time to fully explain every detail of what happened to Luna during his long hospital wing stay, and followed Hermione out the door. The trio made their way to Dumbledore's office and Draco spoke the next password from the list save on his wand.

When the finally reached the door, Draco motioned for Hermione and Luna to stand behind him as he twisted the doorknob.

The door creaked open and Draco saw Dumbledore cease talking with Potter to look at him.

Potter followed the headmaster's gaze and jumped up, his wand pointing at Draco. "How dare you show your face here after what you've done?! I told Dumbledore what you did, but he says I have no proof. Well, I'll show him your confession in my memory. How's that for proof?"

Draco entered the room and smirked as he gauged Potter's reaction upon seeing his best friend enter.

Potter gasped and his jaw dropped. "Hermione?"


	31. 30: It's About Time

To say that Potter was bewildered would be an understatement—a pretty big one. Draco reminded himself not to crack up, as much as he wanted to.

"I, I, Her- wha-" Potter couldn't even speak, he was so shocked.

"I can't believe you actually believed me!" Draco admitted aloud. "Why would I ever kill someone when I'm obviously the only possible suspect, and more importantly, why would I confess to you?

Potter still couldn't formulate the words in his mouth so Hermione said, "Harry, clearly, I'm fine. I just had to go away for a little bit and now that my parents are safe, I'm back."

"But you left all your stuff!" Potter finally spoke.

"I was in a hurry, Harry, I'll explain everything late."

"At any rate, what're you doing with _him_ so late at night?" There was still venom in his words.

Hermione rolled her eyes and answered, "I found him as I was coming out of the Room of Requirement and told him if he didn't move his arse, I'd hex him into oblivion."

Luna nodded in agreement. "After Hermione came back earlier today, Professor Dumbledore told her to stay hidden so you wouldn't be distracted from your mission."

Draco was very impressed at how good at lying both girls had become.

"I camped out in the Room of Requirement all day," Hermione said, "and I'm guessing some time after you left, Luna came back and filled me in on the mission. After hanging out awhile, we were leaving and saw Draco trying to come into the room so some words were exchanged and we realized coming here would be best."

Draco supposed that Potter was too relieved to see his best friend alive than to question why Draco had come willingly...or why Draco had the Dark Mark engraved into his left arm.

"Since we're here," Draco started, "Granger and I need to speak with Dumbledore about the Arithmancy textbook. Something's not right and the professor won't believe us."

Luna walked to Potter. "Come on, Ron and Ginny will be waiting to hear what you learned today."

Potter reluctantly followed her, as if leaving Hermione with Draco would actually result in death for real. He gave his arch-rival (as if forgetting Voldy himself) one last death glare and left.

The door shut.

"I really don't want to go through it all again," Draco told Hermione, "and Luna doesn't share classes with us so that excuse was out."

Sighing, the Gryffindor girl recounted to the headmaster the story of her torture and Draco and Luna's rescue.

The old man seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. "I presume Bellatrix Lestrange's memory is completely gone?" He looked up at Draco and received a confirmation. "And you saw the werewolf is dead."

"Should we wait for Voldemort to find out or will you send Aurors?" Hermione asked.

"The latter would be better," Dumbledore said, turning to a portrait on the wall. To the man in the portrait, he said, "Phineas, if you would please visit the Ministry and tell them I request their services."

"Wait, how will they get there?" Draco questioned.

"I shall have to see your memory."

Hermione groaned. "You mean I didn't have to tell the story in the first place?"

"You made it way shorter and got to add your part too," Draco pointed out, already pulling the memory from his head. He walked over to the Pensieve and stuck in his wand. Dumbledore rose and followed. He entered the memory and exited a brief moment later.

"Draco, you might want to hide yourself," Dumbledore instructed. The boy complied by performing the Disillusionment charm and standing absolutely still in the corner. Just in time, too, because the Aurors from the Ministry came in through the fireplace.

Kingsley was in the front, greeting Dumbledore with a big grin on his face as the Hogwarts headmaster explained the situation. "I've been waiting for Bellatrix Lestrange for a long time."

"And I'm glad the werewolf's dead," said the real Alastor Moody from right behind him, standing next to Nymphadora Tonks, who Draco recognized as his cousin.

"Wotcher, Hermione," Tonks greeted. "Sounds like you've been through a lot, huh?"

"But Dumbledore," Kinsgley said, "how do we get there?"

"Why, I shall take you," came the reply as the old man's eyes twinkled in Draco's direction. Draco watched as Kingsley put his hand on Dumbledore's arm as did Tonks and Moody before vanishing with a crack.

Draco undid his charm, sensing that Dumbledore would take a couple minutes to let Draco test something out.

"Do you think the Death Eaters are already there?" Hermione asked as Draco approached her.

He didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her lips to his. Hermione seemed shocked, but she responded by putting her arms around his waist. To his own surprise, Draco _did_ feel something funny in his stomach.

After what seemed like a lifetime, they finally pulled apart. Hermione just stared into his eyes, surprise, relief, and joy written all over the rest of her face.

"I've wanted that for so long," Hermione got the courage to say.

"I know," Draco breathed. "I didn't think I would ever have feelings for someone, such strong ones, especially. I've had so much on my plate and I think I've probably fancied you awhile, but I had no idea until you were captured right in front of me. Then all the emotions just hit me at once."

Hermione laughed. "I once told myself the day Draco Malfoy has emotions—and explains them to someone—will be the day Dumbledore gets a girlfriend."

Draco smirked and stepped back. "Well, if that's how you feel, you won't be getting _that_ again," he joked, referring to the kiss.

Hermione's face fell. "I might not," she whispered. When she saw Draco frown, she explained, "There's a chance one of us doesn't come out of all this alive. Or maybe neither of us live." She chuckled. "And imagine me telling Harry and Ron."

"Oh, brother, Wealsey secretly loves you, doesn't he?" Draco realized.

Hermione could do nothing but groan while hiding a smile. Then she said, "That was my first kiss, you know."

Draco mock-gaped. "What? You and Krum never—"

"NO!" Hermione exclaimed as Draco began laughing.

"Hey, what was that thing Luna said about Draco Malfoy being back?" Hermione recalled.

Draco said, "After the confrontation with Potter, I realized I couldn't let my emotions control me. I was having trouble dealing with the fact that you, who it turns out I've liked for some time, were in the hands of those murderous creatures because of me. Not to mention that I hadn't received a single message after 'I'm sorry.'"

Draco paused to take in the look of happiness on Hermione's face before continuing, "I can still look at you and chuckle to myself when you do something stupid or get infuriated, but I'm not going to let my feelings for you get in the way again. Maybe now that I know how I feel, this won't be a problem."

Hermione shook her head, understanding. "This doesn't mean that we have to stay away from each other, does it?"

"I don't think you could do that even for another three hundred and twelve percent on an exam," Draco teased. Hermione lightly smacked him, but Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her close, meeting her lips once more.

 _CRACK!_

Hermione jumped away, while Draco tried to prevent his laughter from spilling out at seeing her reaction.

Dumbledore was back and eyed the couple with a knowing look.

"The joys of being young," he muttered good-naturedly. "I have some news for you two."

Pretending as if nothing had happened, Draco and Hermione walked to the headmaster's desk, behind which he was standing.

"It seems that we got there before the Death Eaters did," Dumbledore said, to the two students' relief. "Surely this will be in the news by morning, and Lord Voldemort will assume that the Order had a hand in this. On a different note, Harry was successful in his mission. We watched the real memory of Professor Slughorn moments before you arrived with Miss Lovegood and I believe that before disappearing, Tom Riddle made six Horcruxes, having split his soul into seven, a very powerful number in magic."

"So in addition to the diadem, diary, locket, cup, and ring," Hermione counted off, "what could be the last Horcrux?"

"And where could the cup and the locket possible be?" Draco wondered.

"I have a hunch," Dumbledore told them, "about a potential Horcrux hiding place and will check it out."

"Alone?" Draco said.

"No, not alone. I shall ask Harry to accompany me."

Draco's jaw dropped as he felt somewhat betrayed that Dumbledore was entrusting these new missions to Potter.

To explain, Dumbledore said, "I need you at school. Severus has informed me that you now have a deadline to complete the cabinet, although it is already fixed, is it not?"

Draco gave the affirmative.

"Severus said that you are to report to the cabinet the by 8 in the evening on June 30th and have the door opened. We also need to make a show of you trying to kill me that day, after Harry and I return."

"I can do that. That means I'll have to lay low and just focus on school and Quidditch for the next few months." He stole a glance at Hermione, knowing she'd be pleased about Draco's free time. She'd probably want him to teach her every bit of magic he knew.

"Very well, you two are dismissed." Draco subconsciously put his arm on Hermione's back and guided her to the office door. As they left, they both hear the headmaster speak the unmistakable words, "It's about time."

A/N: They finally kissed! As you can tell, book 6 is coming to a close. I suspect there will be maybe 3 chapters left? I don't know, sometimes I get carried away (like I wasn't even planning for them to kiss in this chapter) and sometimes I blend events into one chapter so we'll see.

Next chapter we'll deal with Harry and Ron and see if Dramione's study sessions help them unearth any Horcrux/Hallow related things. (Remember the Invisibility Cloak Ollivander still has? Yeah, they're gonna want that back.)


	32. 31: Coming Clean

Draco and Hermione halted in front of the Slytherin common room. There were a few hours left of darkness since they'd just returned from the hospital wing after Madam Pomfrey healed Hermione. The nurse demanded bed rest for the girl, but Hermione wanted to go back to her tower.

"Did Luna get a chance to give you back the fake Sickle?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded. "Before she left the Infirmary."

Draco continued, "And remember that Potter can't know anything, not even that Snape is the half-blood prince."

"Yes, yes, I've got it," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Though whether I'll remember that by morning..."

Draco just raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, I'll remember!"

"Marvelous," he drawled. He gave Hermione's hand a squeeze and said, "Tomorrow, then?" Hermione smiled giddily and walked off. Things were going well.

And they continued to go well. The following day was thankfully Saturday and not a school day. The Golden Trio sat in the Gryffindor common room with Ginny and Luna as Hermione explained her ordeal late in the afternoon.

"I don't think Malfoy doubted me for a moment, especially since I've gotten much better at magic than him," she was saying.

"Yeah, he's definitely faltering," Harry agreed.

Hermione feigned ignorance. "And how would you know?"

This led to Harry explaining how he followed Malfoy into the bathroom and confronted him about the cabinet and the dark magic.

Hermione gasped. "So you saw his dark mark?"

"Quite clearly. He was unwilling at first, but once I found out the truth about how he got cursed, he was eager to show me. That's when he told me he'd killed you and I had no choice but to believe him."

Hermione wanted to smack some sense into her best friend. She knew Harry only wanted what was best, but the boy's prejudices got ahead of him.

"At any rate, you all seemed like you had a better two months than I did," Hermione stated. Well, at least this wasn't a lie. Dumbledore had given her a week off to recover, although she wasn't wasting a minute of that time in her room by herself.

She let out a loud yawn.

"Long night?" Ginny asked, a glint in her eye.

Hermione just gave her a weird look and replied, "Well, I stayed up quite awhile, didn't I? After Dumbledore said he'd take care of the Arithmancy problem, the arrogant arsehole of a Slytherin kept trying to instigate me so I retaliated with magic. Then I realized I would have to take him to the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey made me stay there until Draco woke up so I could bloody apologize."

Ron shook his head. "That's just not right. You should've just left him there."

Hermione nearly facepalmed. "Ronald, I may have broken the rules and used magic in the corridors and hurt another wizard, but I can't very well leave him in front of the Headmaster's office, even if he _is_ a Death Eater."

"And just when I thought you stopped caring about the rules," Ron grumbled.

Hermione didn't miss the knowing look in Ginny's eyes before turning to Luna. "Thanks for keeping me company yesterday, by the way."

Luna just smiled. "No worries. I even found my shoes from last year." That part was true. Tossed in the middle of the Room of Hidden Things was a pair of red sneakers with blue and bronze striped laces that created a very clashing look.

The Ravenclaw rose from her seat. "I'd best be getting back now. My charms essay isn't going to write itself."

"I wonder if there's a charm to make your quill write your charms essay," Harry wondered aloud. He and Ron gave each other a "That's brilliant!" look and rushed out of the common room, Luna slowly walking after them.

When it was just Hermione and Ginny, the redhead approached her friend and smirked. "So you kissed Draco Malfoy."

Hermione fell off the couch. "What? How on bloody earth could you say that?"

"Hermione, dear, I've known you long enough to notice the change in your voice when you talk about icy cold Prince Slytherin. Not to mention every girl can tell when her best friend's been kissed."

Hermione just gaped as Ginny crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. "Well?" said the Weasley. "Are you going to deny it?"

Collecting herself, Hermione got up and sat down next to Ginny. "You can't tell a soul. Only Luna knows because she was at the hospital wing yesterday and I told her while Draco was talking with Madam Pomfrey."

"So how long has this been going on? You and Malfoy? You've fancied him for a long time, this I'm aware of."

"When I got captured, which is a whole different story I'll explain to you someday, Draco nearly lost it and realized his feelings for me. He finally rescued me last night, no thanks to Harry's putting him in the hospital, and while Dumbledore took a trip with the Aurors to the place where I was being held, he just came up to me and did it." Hermione took a deep breath as a grin broke onto Ginny's face.

"He initiated the kiss?"

Hermione nodded.

Then Ginny scrunched up her face. "In Dumbledore's office?" The other girl just burst out laughing.

"Alright, but why did Malfoy save you in the first place?"

Sighing, Hermione just said, "We'd been friends a long time, perhaps since the middle of fourth year, and we've become so much closer."

"Be careful; he's a Death Eater."

"Not by choice. He's actually helping Dumbledore. But again, you must keep this to yourself."

Ginny agreed, running an imaginary zipper across her lips, eliciting a chuckle from Hermione.

"Who taught you that Muggle gesture?"

"Hey, I might be a pureblood with wizard parents, but you're a pureblood with squib parents, so I shouldn't know any less than you about Muggle culture."

"We live with Muggles! We've got a house in Muggle London since both the Granger and Lyson houses are currently occupied by my grandparents who were too modest to buy a mansion like Malfoy Manor. Besides, my aunt Celeste suggested that my parents move out of the wizarding world after the whole thing with Voldemort and Harry went down."

"Well, now you've got a different problem to deal with."

"Secretly dating a Death Eater?"

Ginny shook her head. "I don't know if Luna's told you about Ron and Lavender..." She trailed off as Hermione threw her head back and covered her face with her hands.

"Oh, for Godric's sake," Hermione groaned, "I completely forgot Ron's got a thing for me."

"I reckon he's always had a thing for you. He just didn't realize it until something drastic happened, like with Draco."

"Enough about me!" Hermione exclaimed. "Don't tell me you and Harry haven't gotten anywhere."

It was Ginny's turn to smile giddily as she explained the events that occurred with Crookshanks that led to solitary self-confinement in the Room of Hidden Things.

The portrait burst open, Harry and Ron moping through it.

"Who shoved a wand up your ar-"

"Ginny!" Hermione interrupted.

"Looks like there's no charm," Ron said.

"And even if there is," contributed Harry, "then we're not about to spend all our time going through all those books."

Hermione dropped her jaw. "Do you mean to suggest you actually set your foot in the library?"

Harry just rolled his eyes and made his way up the stairs to the boys dorm.

Ron lingered for awhile before saying, "Hermione, could I have a word with you?"

The girl in question exchanged glances with Ginny before nodding and following Ron out the common room. The walked in silence until they came to the stairs that led to the Great Hall.

Hermione quickly sent Draco a message: _It's Ron. Staircase._

"So," Hermione awkwardly started as they began their descent, "I'm glad you weren't poisoned to death."

Ron gave some sort of a strangled laugh. "Yeah, me too. Harry reckons it's Malfoy's doing."

She furrowed her brows and turned to the Weasley. "Malfoy's doing?" she repeated.

"Yeah, Harry thinks that Draco's going on some sort of murderous rampage. First, he tried to kill Katie Bell, although the package was meant for Dumbledore, and then Slughorn has a poisoned mead meant for Dumbledore as well that almost killed me."

Anyone with half a brain would realize the "murderous rampage" was rather an assassination plot. Hermione nearly smacked herself for being so condescending towards her best friend of nearly six years. She also knew that Ron's poisoning was Slughorn's fault for being selfish and for not checking the bottle to begin with, as Draco had told Hermione he'd hoped Dumbledore would do upon actually receiving it.

"I don't think Malfoy's trying to kill anyone," Hermione told him. "He may be a Death Eater, but trying to kill two students under Dumbledore's nose?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Ron muttered.

Hermione stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, really? And why not? Do you believe he's capable of doing something like that?" Honestly, Hermione couldn't believe it herself, but her reasoning was that Draco was smarter than this, not that he was evil.

"He's a Slytherin, Hermione, you can't trust any of them."

"Right, well I bet Harry's parents would have been better suited trusting Slytherin's own Snape than bloody Peter Pettigrew!"

Ron looked shocked that Hermione could say such a thing, not knowing her words were true.

"Married couple having a little spat?" came the smooth voice Hermione was waiting to hear.

"What's it to you?" Ron demanded, facing Draco.

The blond Slytherin merely reached for his wand and said, "Maybe I don't like hearing other people go about their personal business in such a loud manner."

"Actually, we were talking about _you_ ," Ron spat.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Were you, now?" He inched closer to them. "Were you not going to tell her you bloody love her?"

Ron gaped as Hermione held in a snort. She quickly whipped out her wand and pointed it at Draco. "Don't make such silly insinuations!"

Draco held up his arms in mock surrender. "I only speak the truth, and the truth is what I heard in the hospital wing."

She knew she'd have to face it sooner or later, so she turned to the redhead standing still. "Is it true?" she asked. She received a nod.

"Ron, you can't."

"Why not, Hermione?" Ron said, reaching for her hands.

Out the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Draco just itching to grab his wand.

"Ronald, we're best friends. You're like a brother to me, just like Harry."

Ron sighed. "I should've known you'd say no. All you care about are books anyway."

"Maybe that's why she's can actually cast a spell or two," Draco chimed in eagerly, "while you're waiting for others to do all the work for you."

The youngest Weasley brother glared. "What is it with you two and always defending each other, even though you hate each other?"

"Go back to your room, Ron," Hermione exasperatedly commanded. "Please. I'm sorry it has to be like this, but I just don't feel that way about you."

"And where do you think you're going?" Ron snapped. "Oh, wait. The library. Like you always do."

It hurt Hermione to hurt Ron, but she wasn't giving any sympathy to someone who was taking this so harshly.

"Spending some time in the library would do you good," Draco spoke. "So you could block this." A string of plastic spiders flew out from Draco's wand and landed on Ron, who shrieked.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed, instantly making the spiders disappear as Ron ran up the stairs and out of sight.

"You're not any fun at the moment, are you?" Draco joked.

Hermione just sighed deeply. "Draco, I know Ron was being rude to me and obviously it's hard for both of us to see that. But you've got to play nicer. Please."

Draco features hardened. "I've been doing so much to save their bloody arses and they're always quick to accuse me without glancing at anyone else."

"I know, but you haven't exactly given them a reason to doubt your displayed hatred. Every year, you do something to help, and you come back the next year ready to piss them off even more."

"Look, for you, I'll keep in my own lane for the next few months. But if they start something, you can rest well assured that I'll be ending it."

Hermione couldn't help but crack up. "Thank you for coming, by the way."

"You owe me quite a bit, don't you?" Draco smirked. "Tomorrow at eight, be in front of the Room of Requirement. I'll teach you what I learned from the best: Occlumency and Legilimency."

With that, he turned on his heel and left.

 **A/N: Once more, I got carried away with this chapter. However, next chapter, we'll check in with Sirius and Ollivander, see how Mione's magic is coming along, and maybe even feature a cameo from one of Draco's old friends.**


	33. 32: An Essential Visit

The next Hogsmeade visit was in the end of April. The plan was to discreetly visit the Hog's Head and get the Invisibility Cloak back from Ollivander and Sirius. As the Silver Trio casually sat in the library by themselves early on that Saturday morning, Draco turned Marvolo Gaunt's ring over in his robe pocket, careful not to slip it onto his finger, even though the Horcrux had been destroyed, because he wasn't sure if he was at risk for activating the Resurrection Stone.

"Fifteen minutes till the carriages leave," Luna spoke, causing Hermione to look up from her novel.

As the Gryffindor girl put down her book, Draco peeked at the cover. "Who on bloody earth is the Lord of the Rings?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and slipped the book into her bag as she and Luna rose from the table. She grabbed Draco's hand and pulled his lazy arse off the chair.

"With all the magic I've been teaching you, you should've been able to wandlessly pull me up," Draco remarked. This might have been the wrong thing to say because Hermione wandlessly shoved Draco back into his chair.

"I could've blocked that if I wanted to," came his laughing voice. He rose and followed the two girls out the library.

"Won't people see us together?" Hermione asked.

Draco shook his head. "Just follow my lead. Where did you tell the rest of the Golden Trio? That you've taken to hanging with the Silver Trio?"

She scoffed. "Maybe I should have. Ginny, of course, already knows about you, so she helped me convince Harry that even after the past couple of months, I still can't spend time with Ron."

Draco knew it was hard for her, but Weasley hadn't made things any easier. On many ocassions Draco had found the redhead making snide remarks to and about Hermione. How could he take the rejection so hard? After everything the meddlesome Gryffindors had been through together.

"It seems like he's getting worse with every passing day," Luna noted. "Yesterday, I saw him after I had Potions and he interrogated me about you."

Draco frowned. "What did he ask?"

"What she was actually doing when she wasn't in his sights, who she'd been associating with."

"That's none of his business," Hermione huffed. "What did you tell him?"

Luna replied, "That I was not in a position to know or disclose that information."

The trio approached the carriages. Not a soul was in sight, to Draco's relief. Although it wouldn't be long before all the students flooded into the hall. The closest carriage had enough room for all three of them. Hagrid was tending to a thestral further ahead.

Turning back, Draco motioned for Luna and Hermione to follow him. The quickly and silently made their way over to the carriage and climbed on.

"We have to be completely silent and motionless," Draco whispered. He placed the Disillusionment charm on all three of them before reaching out of the carriage and patting one of the thestrals. The horses of the dead rose into the sky and rode over the other carriages and Hagrid's head.

"Oi, what's going on here?" came the half-giant's yell. "Get back here, yeh impatient beasts!"

Hagrid shrugged and shook his head. "Stay outta trouble, yeh here me?"

Soon, the trio's ride had pulled into the village. As Draco and Luna got out, they each patted the thestrals. Luna took some meat out of her bag and gave each horse a piece. Draco gave her a weird look.

"You brought meat with you?"

Luna just nodded and closed her bag. Draco watched as the thestrals gobbled up their treats before moving to watch Hermione's amazed expression.

"Can you still not see them?" he asked.

The witch shook her head. "No, but it's a good thing, I suppose. It means I haven't seen the lives of any of my loved ones come to an end."

"You haven't seen any Death Eaters die, either," Luna commented nonchalantly as she led the other two into Hogsmeade. "So, to the Hog's Head?"

"What if they're not there anymore?" Draco wondered aloud.

"We won't know until we visit," Luna answered.

Soon, the three made it to the inn. Draco undid Hermione and Luna's Disillusionment charms before they all went inside. Draco stayed hidden behind the girls as they scoped out the area. The only person in sight looked somewhat close enough to the Hogwarts headmaster for Draco to recognize him.

He followed the girls to the counter.

"Did my brother send you?" said the man without looking up from a copy of the Quibbler.

"No," Hermione admitted, "but we _are_ here on his behalf. Well, I mean that after we finish our business here, we'll go to him with it."

Aberforth closed the magazine and confronted the two strangers. His eyes zoned in on Luna.

"Why, you wouldn't be Xeno's daughter now, would you?" he inquired, receiving a confirmation. "What can I do for you three?"

"Three?" Hermione repeated.

Aberforth clucked his teeth. "I may not be as skilled and knowledgeable as Albus, but I know some things. It's quite alright; you may stay hidden."

Draco was a tad bit relieved that he wouldn't have to hunch behind Luna and Hermione, who were much shorter than he was so he stretched out, but kept the charm on.

Aberforth's lips curled upward slightly. "So, I ask again: how may I help you?"

"We're looking for two people who came through your fireplace on Christmas," Hermione told him, "in the middle of the night." She spoke with utmost caution, as if a spy was just hanging around the corner.

The innkeeper thought for a moment before matching Hermione's cryptic tone. "Yes, but I didn't see them at first. I only awoke because of the charm that alerts me every time someone comes through the fireplace. When I appeared, a man and a dog showed themselves. I gave them one of my best rooms, where they remain at the moment."

He conjured a key out of nowhere and handed it to Hermione. "I'm sure you'll find your way."

"Thanks," she replied. Aberforth went back to his reading as the three students made their way towards the rooms.

"How can we find the room if we don't have the room room number?" Hermione whispered. "It's not even on the key!"

As they stepped into the first hall, the key began pulling Hermione forward. Surprised, she dropped her bag. Draco picked it up and followed her and Luna. None of the rooms had numbers or locks, just doorknobs. After walking down a series of hallways, they finally arrived at the right room. The key wasn't pulling in any other direction. Rather, it was glowing a bright red.

"Should I knock?" Hermione asked, still whispering, as she turned to face Luna. "And Draco, why don't you take off the charm? It's getting a bit weird."

Rolling his eyes, Draco complied. Not wanting to attract any attention, Hermione slowly reached for the doorknob instead of knocking. When nothing happened upon contact, she twisted it and the door creaked open.

Not a soul was in sight. Or so she thought. Suddenly, a dog appeared from under one bed while the wandmaker appeared from the bathroom.

Both parties were relieved as Draco shut the door behind him, cast Muffliato, and sat next to Hermione on one bed, opposite Sirius and Ollivander.

"That's incredible magic!" Hermione exclaimed as Sirius explained that only the person Aberforth directly and willingly gave the key to would be able to find their way to and open the right room.

"Things been quiet, I hope?" Draco said.

Ollivander nodded. "Albus and Aberforth have been in contact and we are safe for now. And I presume you three arrived at Hogwarts without trouble?"

"We actually had a run in with Draco's aunt and the werewolf Fenrir Greyback," Luna told them from Hermione's other side.

At the shocked looks they got, Hermione continued, "Nothing much. I was taken captive and tortured for information, but Draco and Luna eventually found me."

"I'm so sorry," Sirius said, "we should have stayed and helped. Or at least let the students go through first."

"There was no way we could've known that it would happen," said Draco. "Anyway, we've come to retrieve the Invisibility Cloak. Dumbledore's planning to take Potter on some secret mission and I figured he might need it."

Sirius's hand went to his heart. "Am I hearing this correctly? Draco Malfoy _wants_ to hand over a precious artifact to his archnemesis instead of keeping it for himself?"

"Though he stole it to begin with," Hermione added.

Draco ignored both comments and raised a brow at Sirius.

"Fine, fine," Sirius said. He rose and went to the wardrobe. The cloak was casually wrapped around a hanger. He removed it and tossed it to Draco. "Hey, did Dumbledore say when I can go back home?"

"Isn't the Order headquarters really crowded at the moment?" Luna asked.

Hermione nodded. "The whole Weasley family has been staying there while the Burrow is being repaired. That includes Molly, Arthur, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur-"

"Fleur?" Draco repeated. "Delacour?"

"She's engaged to Bill."

"Oh, so that's what she's been doing since Triwizard."

"Draco!" Hermione admonished as Sirius burst into laughter. Shaking her head, she continued, "Of course, Fred and George have that flat above their shop, but Molly's making them stay at HQ just in case something happens. I still don't know what's going on with Percy, though. I know Tonks is one of the Aurors stationed there ever since they took care of Bellatrix and Greyback, but I'm not sure if she stays there all the time. Also, Pansy Parkinson is there along with Theodore Nott and his mother."

"I haven't seen them in almost a year," Draco said. His eyes then lit up. "Why don't we go pay them a visit?"

Hermione frowned. "You know where it is?"

Draco nodded and said, "Theo told me before he left. We just have to tell Luna and we can get there by Floo, right?" He looked at Sirius, who nodded.

Ollivander was looking very uncomfortable, having been sitting so quietly this whole time. He finally spoke. "Perhaps Mr. Malfoy should use the cloak upon entering. And don't remove it until you are in the company of your friends only."

Draco nodded and looked to the girls. "Should we go, then?"

 **A/N: Two chapters ago I said there were three left...clearly this is turning out to be longer than I expected so next chapter is NOT the last one. However, this book is still coming to a close pretty soon.**


	34. 33: The Social Call

Hermione and Luna stepped through the green fire in 12 Grimmauld Place and were instantly attacked by the Weasley matron.

"...look like you haven't even been fed properly" was all Draco heard when he stepped through. Fortunately, Molly Weasley was too occupied by the sudden social call to notice the second spurt of green fire. The silver-haired boy, wrapped in the Invisibility Cloak, was standing right behind Hermione and Luna.

"I received an owl from Ginny, you know," Molly was telling them as she led them to the kitchen. "Sometime after you returned to Hogwarts, Hermione. I do hope your parents are quite alright?"

"Yes, they're doing well," came the reply. "Thank you for asking."

Molly began to bustle about and prepare a snack for the two girls. "She also mentioned something about you and Ron." She looked expectantly at the Gryffindor as she poured a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Exactly what did Ginny tell you?" Hermione cautiously inquired.

"That by the time he finally realized what was right in front of him, it was too late."

Luna dreamily gazed around the room as Hermione sighed. "He's like a brother to me. He and Harry both. It's impossible to imagine either of them in a different role. I tried explaining it to Ron, but he took it very harshly."

"He's been quite angry about it," Luna spoke, still gazing around. "Been a bit mean to Hermione."

"Not to worry," Molly said. "I've given Ginny my full permission to punish Ron in whatever way she deems fit."

Hermione laughed.

"Perhaps he would back off if you told him about your new beau."

Draco's ears perked up and Hermione's jaw dropped. "Ginny told you?" she said.

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Ginny finds it hard to keep gossip like this from her own mother."

"And do you know how many boys she's dated?"

Ginny's mother stopped what she was doing. "She told me she doesn't date."

Luna looked over at the older woman. "At least two were from Ravenclaw."

"I can make you a list before I leave," Hermione told her, a glint in her eye.

"That lying..." Molly muttered something under her breath. "Very well. Are you going to tell me who yours is?"

So the youngest Weasley had thought to leave that part out.

"I'm afraid you wouldn't like him," Hermione spoke. "He's big and mean, and sort of ugly, too."

Draco approached Hermione and snaked his cloaked arm around her waist. He breathed into her ear. "What was that?"

Hermione froze at the contact. "Just kidding. He's actually the most amazing person in the world and I have no doubt in my mind everyone wants to be him or be with him."

Smirking, Draco let her go and stepped back.

Molly suspiciously eyed Hermione. "So only Ginny knows who it is? Luna, honey, do you know?"

The Ravenclaw nodded and said, "I'm not at liberty to disclose this information."

"You can bet I'll find out when Ginny learns I've got that list," said Molly, handing the girls their plates and glasses. "And don't think you'll leave here without giving me that list. I'll be seated right in front of the fireplace until you do."

Luna asked Molly where Pansy and Theo were and so the mother of Weasleys left to retrieve them. Draco temporarily removed the cloak and questioned Hermione.

"Big and mean, huh? And sort of ugly, too. I'd bloody well hate to be your boyfriend. He must get seriously bullied."

"Boyfriend?" Hermione repeated. "Are you saying you consider me your girlfriend, then?"

Draco scoffed. "Who do you think you're talking to? Obviously I'm not big and mean and sort of ugly."

Hermione chuckled. "No, just the opposite, actually."

Draco made a face. "So I'm small, nice, and sort of pretty?"

At the sound of footsteps, Draco cloaked himself and said, "This isn't over."

Pansy and Theo padded into the kitchen. Pansy looked excited to see Hermione, with whom she'd become friends with in fifth year. Theo awkwardly shuffled about. Molly followed them into the room to declare that she would indeed be blocking the fireplace for the next however many minutes or hours the two visiting girls stayed. Once Molly left, Pansy led them into a sitting room connected to the kitchen. When everyone's back was to Draco, he removed the cloak and stashed it in his pocket. As Theo made to sit down on the couch, he saw Draco and fell onto the floor.

"I see you're just as smooth as ever," Draco drawled. Theo picked himself off the floor and dusted his shirt.

"Mate, it's been awhile," Theo said, grabbing Draco's hand for a shake-and-hug. "How's life? Been marked?"

"Theo!" Pansy glared at him.

"It's fine," Draco told them, rolling up his left sleeve. The two boys sat down on the couch while the girls occupied the armchairs. "What's been going on here?"

Theo shrugged. "Not much. Lupin's been covering a bunch of useful material with us nearly everyday. He's not an expert in every subject, but he's a great teacher."

"I'm glad you're surviving without my homework," said Draco. This earned a scoff from the other Slytherins.

"You never gave it to me anyway," Theo said at the same time Pansy said, "It's because of me he's survived."

Pansy rolled her eyes, but Draco caught a glimpse of the same look in her eyes he always saw in Hermione's eyes when he did something slightly irritable. Not that he thought he was irritable.

He nodded his head at his friends. "So how long have you two been together?"

Hermione burst out laughing at the shocked looks displayed on the homeschooled teenagers.

Pulling herself together, Pansy replied with "Since November. How did you know?"

"I have my ways," Draco answered, trying to be enigmatic.

Luna chimed in. "Perhaps it's because he sees you look at Theo the way Hermione looks at Draco."

Hermione dropped her fork into her juice.

"One Crumple-Horned Snorkack and this would resemble a triple date," Luna finished, eliciting laughs from the others.

"Don't worry, Luna, we'll find you someone," Draco assured her, although he wasn't entirely sure if Luna preferred a some _thing_.

Theo was still gaping. "You and Granger? Together?"

"Please, Theo," Pansy said, "it's not terribly surprising."

"It isn't?" Draco and Hermione said at the same time.

Pansy shook her head. "Draco, you may not have known it, but you did act differently around her. And Hermione, you're easier to read than my handwriting."

Draco acknowledged that Pansy's scripture was plain as day to read.

At Pansy's begging, Hermione told the story of all that had happened that year, with occasional input from the other two members of the Silver Trio.

"Merlin's beard, are you okay?" Pansy asked Hermione, who in turn nodded.

"Let me guess," Draco began, "you and Theo found company in each other because there were no other teenagers here?"

"That's our story," Theo confirmed. "Nothing like yours—snogging in Dumbledore's office."

"Okay, that's enough," Hermione stopped him. Changing the subject, she said, "How much do you know of what the Order knows?"

A sly grin appeared on Theo's face. "Well, the twins have been kind enough to lend us Extendable Ears. The meetings are usually really boring, though. Snape tells everyone what the Dark Lord is planning and then they all discuss. But we did pick up on something quite interesting." He looked at Pansy, waiting for her to explain.

The Slytherin girl said, "It seems Dumbledore has a detailed plan for the end of the year, but he didn't say the plan out loud. Either he knew we were listening in on him or there was someone in the room he didn't trust."

"Who all were in the room?" asked Hermione.

"We don't know," Pansy admitted. "We never saw. Anyway, you guys just said that Dumbledore never explicitly what the plan was."

Draco frowned. "He just told me we needed to pretend that I was going to kill him."

"I have a feeling there's more he's not telling you."

"He does that a lot," Luna said.

After exchanging farewells and drawing up a list of Ginny's exes (Hermione also made sure to casually include Harry's name in that list), Luna and Hermione, followed by an invisible Draco, made their way back to Hogwarts through Dumbledore's fireplace. It seemed that the headmaster wasn't there so Draco removed the cloak and draped it around Dumbledore's chair, knowing he'd find it.

They exited the office and made for the library. Luna departed at the staircase to the Ravenclaw Tower, promising she'd join the other two for a late lunch in a couple of hours.

Draco found himself alone with Hermione in the library. So he kissed her. They hadn't been doing a lot of that, and although Draco wasn't all lovey-dovey, he did enjoy doing it.

"Maybe we'll finally defeat Voldemort this year," Hermione said after they'd pulled apart. "Then I won't have to go around pretending that I'll die with my seventy-four cats."

"Nobody believes that," Draco assured her. "There's no way you'd have less than a couple hundred."

Hermione playfully shoved him away. "I suppose I'll just have to rethink this whole ordeal then." She paused. "Today, you inadvertently called yourself my boyfriend."

Draco ran his fingers through his hair. "I did, didn't I? Can I not be called that? It makes us sound like we're twelve."

"What, then? Significant other?"

"We're not ancient, either," Draco remarked. "Hermione Granger is...my most trusted adviser."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "And Draco Malfoy is my most irritable."

"Swear on Slytherin's missing locket that you wouldn't have it any other way," Draco challenged.

"How can I swear on it if it's not here?"

"It doesn't have to be here for you to—oh, bloody forget it," Draco gave up, leaning in once more.

"Hermione?!" came a sort of strangled shriek of shock. The trusted adviser and her most irritable spun around to face a very red-faced Ron Weasley.

A/N: I wanted to include some quiet chapters before the thing we all know will happen on June 30, 1997. Next chapter we'll see what Ron thinks and maybe build up to the end. I'll be honest: writing the Dramione interaction is a little weird for me, but hopefully I'll get used to it. (Pansy looks kinda mean in the pic, doesn't she?)


	35. 34: Resolving & Preparing

"Ron-" Hermione tried.

" _This_ is why you won't even give me a chance?" the Gryffindor boy exclaimed, lucky that Madam Pince had gone to Hogsmeade, unlucky that Draco Malfoy could unlock the library. "Hermione, what's gotten into you? You're not under a love potion, are you?"

"Bloody hell, Weasley," Draco muttered. "Since when can't Slytherins and Gryffindors be together?"

"All you Slytherins work for Voldemort!" Weasley turned to Herimone. "He's a Death Eater, for crying out loud! You must be off your senses to fall for him. Come on, I'll take you to Slughorn. He helped me when I was under a love potion."

"Ronald, I'm not under any love potion," Hermione insisted calmly.

"You have to be. There's no other explanation." Draco saw that upon surveying the look on Hermione's face, Weasley knew she was telling the truth. His expression changed from one of disbelief to one of anger. "What did you do to her?" he demanded of Draco.

"Seduced her using my evil Death Eater powers," Draco nonchalantly answered.

"Draco!" Hermione warned with a stern look. She turned to her former best friend. "Ron, he's working with Dumbledore."

"That's what he wants you to think."

"Really? Why don't you go ask the headmaster himself?"

Weasley groaned. "But Harry and I are with Dumbledore, too! What on bloody earth can you possibly see in him?"

"Ron, that's not your concern. But if you must know, he doesn't scream at me or question my decisions like you're doing at the very moment." She gave him a very pointed look.

"You know what?" Weasley said. "Wait until Harry finds out you've been fraternizing with the enemy, just like I said you would two years ago. Only I thought it was Krum you were after. I'll have you know, I would've preferred losing you to that oaf than to this murderer."

"Not a murderer yet, Weasley, but you watch your mouth because that could change very soon," Draco retorted.

"Is that a threat?" Weasley glared at Draco, pulling out his wand. Within a second, the redhead flew back and was tied up by ropes from Draco's wand.

"Should've done this the moment he came in," Draco muttered to Hermione, who was at a loss for words. He pointed his wand at Weasley's head and spoke. "Obliviate." Draco erased Weasley's memory from the moment he came in the library. He then quickly disintegrated the ropes.

Once that was done, Draco moved out of Weasley's view and Disillusioned himself, learning against a bookcase. Hermione needed to sort things out with her friend, and Draco mustn't have a hand in it.

"Are you okay, Ron?" Hermione knelt next to the Weasel, who was rubbing his eyes.

"Am I in the library?" he asked.

"Yes, is this where you're supposed to be?"

Weasley weakly nodded. Draco supposed that he was in pain from Draco's magic a minute ago so he nonverbally healed the boy. As little as Draco cared about Weasley's suffering, it would probably make Hermione's day go a bit smoother.

Feeling better, Weasley rose to his feet. "I came to find you," he said to Hermione. "Harry and Ginny gave me this great lecture about how I wasn't treating you right and that you were allowed to have no feelings for me without getting said treatment. Honestly, those two are already acting like a married couple with children."

It was probably a bad time to mention the kiss shared between Ron's sister and his best mate. Or perhaps not.

Hermione blurted, "They're well on their way to being one."

Weasley frowned. "What? What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing! What were you saying?" she covered.

Deep breath. "I came to apologize. I've basically turned into Malfoy since I told you."

Hermione uncomfortably assured him, "You two are very different people, but I care about you both."

 _Oh no,_ Draco thought. _Why would you say that?_

Weasley caught her slip-up and questioned her. "You care about Malfoy?"

"No! Well, in a way. I'm worried for his well-being." Technically, she wasn't lying. "He was made into a Death Eater at such a young age after living with prejudice for more than half his life." Still not a lie. "I hope after we bring Voldemort down he makes peace with everyone."

"Come on, Hermione, it's Malfoy we're talking about. He doesn't have to deal with any hardships in his life—I'm willing to bet my broomstick he likes being a Death Eater. Who knows? He might try to become the next 'Dark Lord' in a few years." Weasley used air quotes to express his words.

For a second, Draco detected a hint of uncertainty in Hermione. What if Draco was just using everyone to get rid of Voldemort so he could put the Malfoys back in charge? Then ever so slightly, she shook her head, and Draco could see that she was confident in Draco's motives.

"He's not going to do that, Ron," she said. "It doesn't matter, anyway. What we have to focus on is the present."

"Fine, whatever the brightest witch of her age says," Weasley agreed. "Do you want to come back to Hogsmeade with me?"

Hermione shook her head. "I promised Luna I'd have lunch with her in the Great Hall, but thanks anyway."

Weasley nodded before awkwardly walking out of the library.

"Anytime someone has to find me," Hermione spoke to herself, "why is it always assumed that I'm at the library?"

"Where else could you possibly be?"

Draco's voice made Hermione jump, as she'd nearly forgotten he was there. He made himself visible again and approached Hermione.

"I felt you doubt me there for a second."

The Gryffindor girl shrugged in response. "I have to consider all the possibilities. However, I think I've known you long enough to tell what's genuine and what's not."

Smirking, Draco said, "Tell me if the following sentence is true: Draco Malfoy is much better at magic than Hermione Granger."

She just rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand. "Come on. I know where Ron keeps his broom and he did just bet his broomstick."

"What if I like being a Death Eater? I can vaporize, after all."

"And this is why you've earned the title of my most irritable."

"Technically, you're the one who's irritable. I'm doing the irritating."

"Thank you, Mr. Grammar Death Eater."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Is that like grammar Nazi, but much less clever?"

Hermione sighed. "Why did I ever think we would be good together?"

"Because I'm that desirable."

After about two more months of playful banter, teaching Hermione [Draco], and wondering why Draco was much cockier lately [Hermione], June 30th arrived.

Hermione burst into the Room of Requirement. Draco was staring at the cabinet. "What if Voldemort himself comes through here?" he wondered aloud. "He said he was only sending Death Eaters, but I suppose I'll never know."

He turned to face his trusted adviser. "Harry just left with Dumbledore to find the Horcrux, which means you've got between twenty and thirty minutes to be back up there," she said.

Draco glanced at his watch, which read 7:35. He then strode to Hermione and tightly hugged her. "This could go very wrong," he whispered into her ear. "Especially since Dumbledore's failed to tell anyone about this plan of his."

"You know what you have to do: open the door and get up to the tower so you can put on a show for Harry until the others come." Hermione stepped back and pulled Draco in for a long kiss.

"I'll be fine. I've got Dumbledore and even Potter to help me stun all the Death Eaters into oblivion before wiping their memories."

"How many are coming?" Hermione asked.

"Snape didn't say. He told me not to worry about it."

This made Hermione frown. "Something seems off about this whole situation."

"Just promise me you won't be anywhere near the office," Draco commanded. "Go to the Gryffindor tower and stay there until I contact you through the fake Sickle. I know you can handle yourself, but the last thing I need is a repeat of Christmas and the months that followed."

Hermione rolled her eyes, trying not to let the worry show through her. She gave his hand a squeeze before leaving the room to assemble Dumbledore's Army in case they were needed. But for Draco's sake, she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

A/N: So next chapter is what we've all been waiting for (especially me). Of course, it won't be the last chapter of this book. I reckon I'll have 2 or 3 more but we'll see how long the whole thing takes, wrap-up included. Then onto book 7 after that! (which might take some time to plan because Draco's barely in it).


	36. 35: Battle of the Astronomy Tower

Hermione found Luna waiting for her outside the library. Using the fake galleon, Hermione sent a message to the DA members from the previous year to come to the library immediately. She hoped they hadn't tossed their coins after Umbridge caught them all.

Something was off about Dumbledore—Hermione could sense it. He didn't seem too concerned with what was about to happen. He hadn't thought to go over his detailed plan with Draco. Was there something they weren't seeing?

"What's wrong?" came a voice over her shoulder. Hermione spun around to see Neville running to her and Luna.

"We'll see who else shows up before I explain what's going on," Hermione told him. To her surprise, every member of the DA who hadn't graduated arrived at the library within minutes, save for the four Slytherins in hiding.

After getting everyone to settle down, Hermione spoke. "Alright, I hope you've all remembered your training from last year and that Snape was an adequate teacher for you this year because a time has come for us to use those skills. I discovered a plot involving Draco Malfoy leading Death Eaters into Hogwarts," murmurs rang through the crowd "but I couldn't learn where he'll be or how he plans to do it so we can't stop him." _Sorry, Draco,_ she thought. "Dumbledore is aware of this plan and is presumably recruiting Aurors to help him, but with Snape behind our walls, I can't guarantee that it will be enough. We may be a ragtag group of students here, but we've got to pull out the best of our knowledge to defeat any Death Eaters in our path."

"How do we know where they're gonna run through?" asked Zacharias Smith.

"We don't," Hermione admitted, "which is why we must all stay on guard for the next few hours. I suspect that they may enter through the Hogsmeade facing doors, but they could very well come from behind Hagrid's hut. Whatever the case, we have to assemble ourselves in front of the Great Hall and be ready."

As she led them to their waiting area, Draco paced back and forth in front of the Vanishing Cabinet. The Death Eaters would be arriving soon, but he had no clue which ones it would be. What if it didn't work? The previous day, Hermione sneaked away to Hogsmeade disguised as Draco, courtesy of some Polyjuice, and apparated (a skill the sixth years had finally been taught) to Borgin & Burkes to send random items through to the real Draco at Hogwarts. Every single thing had made it through unharmed, and Draco didn't need to speak a word. Still, he was on edge about the whole ordeal. And Dumbledore surely hadn't made it any easier on him.

At least his two least favorite Death Eaters were gone. And for once in five years he'd been able to celebrate his birthday. It wasn't a huge spectacle—just him, Hermione, Luna, Theo, and Pansy, the last two having hosted them at Grimmauld Place once more. Luckily, Mrs. Weasley wasn't there.

Snapping out of the memory, Draco checked his watch: it was exactly eight. He left the cabinet door open and rushed out of the room, making his way to the astronomy tower.

"Nothing will go wrong," he repeatedly muttered to himself as he climbed the stairs, clutching his wand so tightly it might break. As he got closer to the top, he heard voices.

"You must retrieve Professor Snape," Dumbledore was saying. "Take the cloak. And do not stop until you bring him here."

Draco ran up the last few steps as a sharp breeze passed him. That must've been Potter in the Invisibility Cloak.

He reached the top of the tower and instantly disarmed Dumbledore. "I heard voices," he said to his headmaster, whose wand flew to the side. "Who else is here?"

Dumbledore shrugged. "Just the ramblings of an old man is all. You see, I sometimes find it helpful to talk to myself. Of course, talking to others is often beneficial as well. Tell me, Draco, is something bothering you?"

Draco didn't speak.

"Draco, you are no assassin."

"How do you know what I am? I've done things that would shock you!"

"Like cursing Katie Bell to bring me a cursed necklace? Or perhaps lacing a bottle of mead with poison? Forgive me, Draco, but it seems that these actions are so weak that your heart can't really have been in them."

He caught Dumbledore's eye and knew that Potter must still be lurking. So the headmaster was trying to make the Slytherin Prince look like a broken soul—a scared little boy, forced into his position, as if he had no other choice. The scared little broken boy with a big job to do was exactly who Draco would now play.

"He trusts me!" Draco exclaimed, rolling up his left sleeve. "I was chosen!"

He couldn't help but wonder if Snape was supposed to come of his own accord or find the Death Eaters and come with them. Just then, they heard a door jolt open.

"You're not alone," Dumbledore remarked. "There are others. How?"

"The Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement," Draco said. "I've been mending it. It's sister lies in Borgin & Burkes."

"I see." Dumbledore paused. "Years ago, I student of mine went on to work at that very store. I knew him since he was a boy and he seemed to be drawn to all the wrong choices. Please let me help you."

"I don't want your help!" Draco screwed up his face as much as he could. "Don't you understand? If I don't do this...if I don't kill you...he'll kill me."

There were footsteps coming up the stairs. Draco turned and faced...his aunt Bella? She still had the same evil look about her as always, as if Draco hadn't erased her memory at all. How was this possible?

Draco tried not to let his bewilderment show as he directed his attention back to Dumbledore.

"Look what we have here," came Bellatrix's voice from behind Draco. "Well done, Draco!" She cackled.

"Good evening, Bellatrix," Dumbledore casually greeted.

 _Why did I disarm him?_ Draco wondered. Then again, Dumbledore didn't need magic. And Voldemort would probably kill Draco had he not done a thing at all before letting the headmaster escape.

"I would introduce you to my colleagues," Bellatrix said, "but I'm afraid we're on a tight schedule." She turned to Draco. "Do it!"

When Draco hesitated, Rookwood taunted, "He doesn't have the guts. Just like his father."

SLAM! With a swift motion, Draco made the Death Eater fly back into the stone wall. "Don't you dare talk about my father!"

"Focus, Draco!" Bellatrix demanded.

"Let me do it—" Rookwood started but Bellatrix cut him off.

"No! The Dark Lord requires that Draco do it."

Draco pointed his wand at Dumbledore, feigning fear the best he could, letting his arm shake madly.

"Go on, Draco," Bellatrix urged. "NOW!"

"No."

Draco spun around to find Snape. He was relieved, although still a bit anxious. How did Snape plan on letting Dumbledore get away? And why hadn't the headmaster left yet? He certainly knew how. He watched as Dumbledore's eyes flickered down for a quick second. Potter must still be here.

"Severus," Dumbledore spoke, wearing an expression of solemn. He glanced at Draco with a hint of regret. "Please."

Without further hesitation, Snape pointed his wand at Dumbledore and said, "Avada Kedavra!"

Draco's jaws nearly fell open as the men he'd grown to admire was shoved off the balcony by the green light. It took all his willpower not to run over and peek over the side.

 _WHAT JUST HAPPENED?_ he thought. Frozen in his spot, he had no clue what to do, what to think. All this detailed planning, and Snape just threw it down the drain! How the bloody hell were they supposed to defeat Voldemort if Dumbledore was bloody dead?

Bellatrix giddily ran up to the ledge and shot the Dark Mark into the air, screaming in delight. Snape and the other Death Eaters vaporized away as Draco's aunt dragged him from his position. While Bellatrix was distracted, Draco summoned Dumbledore's wand, the Elder wand and ran down the stairs to where he'd passed Potter earlier. He nearly slipped on something.

The Invisibility Cloak.

"Potter," he grumbled, aggravated. That fool was going to get himself easily killed. He'd probably be dead if Voldemort didn't tell all his followers to back off and save the Golden Boy for the Dark Lord.

Dead like Dumbledore.

Draco grabbed, shrunk, and pocketed the cloak. He placed Dumbledore's wand in the wand protector Hermione had given him before running after his aunt.

Meanwhile, Hermione was still waiting when Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas burst through the doors. She had sent them on lookout duty ten minutes ago.

"What is it?" she asked, approaching them.

"The Dark Mark," Seamus panted. "In the sky, above the Astronomy Tower."

This wasn't good.

"Okay, everyone follow me!" Hermione commanded, racing out the doors.

Just as they left, Draco and Bellatrix arrived at the Great Hall. His aunt shrieked as she brought down all the windows in the hall, sending millions of tiny pieces of glass flying at Draco and herself. The sixth year shielded himself and followed Bellatrix out of the hall.

They came outside to find the Death Eaters battling a group of students.

"Enough!" Snape ordered, putting up a shield between the students and themselves. By this time, Draco and Bellatrix had managed to get on Snape's side. Bellatrix ran towards Hagrid's hut.

"SNAPE!" came a roar from Snape's unblocked side. It was Potter. Draco turned to see Hermione's face very clearly. She was shocked and confused.

"HE TRUSTED YOU!" Potter screamed as Dumbledore's Army tried to break through the blockade from the other side.

From the corner of his eye, Draco saw Hagrid's hut go up in flames.

"WHEE!" Bellatrix jumped up and down like a little girl.

"Go!" Snape told Draco, who backed up but didn't follow the other Death Eaters, who were vaporizing away.

"Incarcerous!" Potter yelled, and Snape easily deflected it.

"FIGHT BACK! YOU COWARD, FIGHT BACK!" Suddenly, Potter flew back. Draco saw Bellatrix retract her wand as Snape reminded her that Potter belonged to Voldemort. The witch crossed her arms and grumpily stalked off.

Giving one last glare to Potter, sprawled on the floor, Snape turned to follow Bellatrix. Draco started to go with him when he heard the familiar "Sectumsempra!" from behind.

Snape blocked this again and stormed closer to Potter, who had gotten up. All the Death Eaters had gone and now, Dumbledore's Army had broken through the barrier and were coming their way.

Draco followed Snape, who was now towering over Potter.

"You dare use my own spells against me?" Snape drawled. At Potter's startled expression, the former Potions master continued. "Yes. I am the half-blood prince."

He spun around and marched off. Draco stared at Potter for a few seconds, not knowing what to say.

"You take good care of her," Draco muttered under his breath, but it didn't go unheard by Potter. Draco turned and ran, all the way past Hagrid's hut, passing Hermione. He didn't dare look at her, even as he felt her eyes on him until he vaporized into the air.

A/N: Oh. My. Bloody. Salazar. I've been sitting at my computer for five hours. FIVE HOURS! I don't know why it took so long, but here it is! I hope you enjoyed my take on this iconic scene. I believe I'll need one chapter to wrap this book up and hopefully I'll update later tonight because I'll be out of town for the next few days and don't want to keep you all waiting so long for the final chapter.


	37. 36: A Long Year Ahead

Draco had no idea where everyone else had vaporized to so he went straight to Malfoy Manor. Having guessed right, he saw all the Death Eaters crowded together in the drawing room. The numbers had grown exponentially since Voldemort came back two years before.

He sighed. He'd tried so hard. Dumbledore was dead, anyone could enter Draco's home as they pleased, and Hermione was probably very fed up with him for not having any answers. Well, maybe he could fix that last bit. He reached into his pocket and frowned; it was empty. Where was the coin? He reached into his other pocket and felt the shrunken cloak and the Gaunt ring, but no coin.

"I sense success." It was a very familiar high-pitched voice that pierced Draco's skin for the first time since that previous summer. Barefooted, the creature walked into the room. As he approached the chair at the head of the table, he spoke. "The Malfoys have been among my most supportive since my early days as Lord Voldemort. Imagine my surprise when nearly two decades ago, Lucius attempted to demonstrate his superiority. And barely half a year after the newest Malfoy member was inducted into his present position, his mother escaped with the help of Gryffindor's favorites. Tell me, Draco. Will you betray me as did your parents?"

Draco violently shook his head. "Never, my lord. I don't know what got into them, but I can assure you that I won't be making the same mistakes they did."

Voldemort's lips curled up in a nasty mocking smile. "Is that so? From what I hear, you were on the verge of letting Dumbledore escape."

Draco hung his head. "I was afraid. I've never killed a man before, and I didn't quite understand why Dumbledore was behaving as he was."

"I suppose I cannot blame you for your incompetence. The French have always been known to surrender." The room broke into laughter. "Of course, if it weren't for Severus, we would still have a massive problem on our hands, but with the headmaster of Hogwarts gone, Dumbledore is ours!" This time, the Death Eaters cheered. "You will have other chances, dear boy. Perhaps when we find your parents, you can give them a firsthand lesson on the cost of betrayal."

Tom Riddle had been standing this entire time and finally took his seat. "Severus, I shall have to congratulate you on a job well done. I must say I doubted you were fully devoted to our cause."

Draco frowned. Was Voldemort suspicious of Snape all these years? Did Dumbledore sacrifice himself so that Snape could prove his loyalty to Voldemort? This would certainly make more sense.

"You see," the Dark Lord continued, "I fear that there is a mole among us. How else could they have gained access to knowledge on Sirius Black's whereabouts? And how were they able to free the prisoners and later free the squibborn from such a remote location while killing one of our own—a werewolf, no less—and completely erasing another's memory? As an aside, I have restored Bellatrix as much as possible, forcing her to assume the identity of the person she was, even if she will never remember why she became that witch."

So Bellatrix didn't really remember anything. That was an upside. Unfortunately, Draco had underestimated Voldemort's brainpower.

"But back to my original point: someone in this very room has been working against me, whether it be with the Order or alone. Only a Death Eater could enter Bellatrix and Fenrir's workshop, especially without knowing where it even was. Only a Death Eater could have had access to Malfoy Manor at the time of Narcissa Malfoy's imprisonment. Why, if Draco weren't so young and inexperienced, I might have believed it was him!" This elicited more laughter as Draco uncomfortably stood still, doing his best to look frightened.

But perhaps he should have been. Because Voldemort wasn't stupid, and he might know a great deal more than he was leading on.

"For now, the only news I have is that Malfoy Manor will be occupied by Draco, who is finally of age, and an appointed guardian, as he is still in school."

"I'm not going back to Hogwarts," Draco blurted.

Voldemort narrowed his eyes at the rising seventh year. "I suppose you think you are too advanced to return? Or are you afraid of what your peers will have to say to you?"

It was more that being even remotely close to Hermione would endanger her, not to mention all the work Draco had to do to find the Horcrux, and he couldn't do that at school, which Voldemort would most certainly take over. But of course, he kept this to himself and instead voiced, "I couldn't care one bit about what the others have got to say. I stepped up to the challenge while they all cried about their disappointing OWL scores. I'm staying home next year to prepare for the inevitable final battle. Perhaps I can finally get rid of some Mudblods." Draco did his best to look as maniacally sane as possible, quite a difficult expression to achieve once you realized how little the name "maniacally sane" made sense.

Fortunately, his acting worked. The Dark Lord said, "Very well. You shall be permitted to stay home alone, but I will still call meetings in this very room. Oh, I nearly forgot. This coming year, Hogwarts will be welcoming not only the Carrows as their Muggles Studies and Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, but also Severus as the headmaster."

The wizard in question remained expressionless and bowed his head to Voldemort.

"I beg your pardon, my lord, but Hogwarts already has a Muggle Studies teacher," Draco reminded him.

Voldemort only smirked and replied, "Indeed...for now."

At the very school they were speaking of, Hermione was lingering in the by the Black Lake the day after Dumbledore's death. A respectfully appropriate funeral for the greatest headmaster Hogwarts had seen had just concluded and the attendees were filing out. She remembered distinctly the horror she had felt when Harry dragged her to Dumbledore's body the previous night. There he lay, the only man Voldemort had ever feared, taken down by none other than the only man Dumbledore truly trusted, in Hermione's opinion. Harry had found the locket from the cave in Dumbledore's pocket and explained everything that went down at the cave before opening the locket to find a note from R.A.B that basically said that the locket was fake.

All that trouble for nothing.

But what disturbed Hermione the most was Draco. What could have gone so badly wrong that he couldn't keep Snape from killing Dumbledore? Hermione had been messaging him constantly, but he wouldn't answer his fake Sickle. She remembered the lost look in his eyes, as if Draco Malfoy was no longer back.

"In the end, he couldn't do it," Harry had told her, to her relief. Of course he couldn't do it. Nor could he risk his life to save the best wizard since Merlin in front of Death Eaters. Hermione had to wonder why Dumbledore had let himself die so easily. She knew she could protect himself.

"He didn't have his wand," Harry had reasoned before the funeral, explaining the fuss McGonagall had made when she couldn't find it anywhere in sight. However, Hermione had noted that Dumbledore was fully capable of escaping from a situation like that, as he had the previous year when cornered by Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge.

She had unconsciously walked to Hagrid's hut—or what remained of it, anyway. Seeing the half-giant's face when he saw his home killed Hermione, but it was much worse to see his reaction to Dumbledore's lifeless body. She would take her earlier words back: Dumbledore didn't just trust Snape, but, as he quite often remarked, he would trust Hagrid with his life.

"How are you holding up?"

Hermione jumped. It was only Ginny, seemingly glum.

"I want answers," Hermione truthfully responded, "same as everyone else."

"And Draco?"

She sighed. "I haven't heard from him. Who knows what could've happened? He might be hard pressed to find himself free from Voldemort's sight. After all, Draco merely disarmed Dumbledore, according to Harry."

"You should be glad he's not a killer, for one, and that he's not dead."

"He might be dead," Hermione considered.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "You don't really believe that."

Hermione shook her head. "So, I know how Harry's dealing with all of this. Has he said anything to you?"

It was Ginny's turn to sigh. "He broke up with me. He doesn't want to put my life at risk unnecessarily."

"You're very understanding about this."

"Well, I don't suppose he's told you his plan to not return to Hogwarts and go Horcrux-hunting instead."

"What?!"

"Not to mention that Mum's been on my case about how important school is, regardless of who's in charge."

Hermione groaned. "Harry and his stupid hero complex! If he thinks he's going anywhere without me then he's gravely mistaken."

Ginny laughed. "Ron said that too."

"You told Ron?"

Ginny nodded. "Just after Harry told me. My dear brother went to find him."

"I suppose I've got to go do the same—hey, what's that?" Something was glinting in the sunlight. Ginny rushed forward and picked it up, scrutinizing it.

"Tell me you're fine," Ginny read. She looked up. "Looks an awful lot like a Sickle version of those fake Galleons you gave us for the DA."

Hermione's face lit up as the snatched it from the redhead. "It's Draco's Sickle. He must have dropped it last night."

"You look rather excited for someone who's lost her only form of communication with her boyfriend."

"Most irritable," Hermione corrected. "And I'm not excited. Just relieved that he's not avoiding my messages."

Ginny glanced at her watch. "We'd better head inside. The train should be leaving soon."

After Hermione had gotten everything ready, she made her way down to the Slytherin commons and hid until some second years left the common room before slipping in. She found Draco's room and went inside. His things had been neatly packed for today's train. Hermione shrunk the trunks and next went to the Owlery to collect Duchess. Having retrieved her, Hermione enlarged the trunks and sent everything to Hogsmeade with a note that read, "Return to Malfoy Manor."

Draco received his luggage the very next day, without a doubt in his mind as to who sent them. As he put them away, he remembered his job to stay away from Hermione. Voldemort may have let Draco have the manor to himself, but by no means was Draco truly free. Surely his master planned on having eyes on him at all times.

SQUAWK!

Draco had to duck down to avoid the flying bird. To his shock, it was Fawkes.

"How the bloody hell did you find me?" Draco asked it, but it seemed that Fawkes had taken a liking to Duchess, resting on Draco's desk.

"It's going to be a long year," Draco muttered to himself, as he gazed out the window at the peaceful atmosphere outside.

 **THE END**

 **A/N: Ah, it's finally done! Now I've only got one book left!**


End file.
